Scottish Hockey Union: Scotland’s senior men will take on Ireland at Countesswells in Aberdeen later this week in the first home internationals of the season.
Robert Gordon’s College will play host to this enticing fixture which will give the Scots a chance to try their moves on one of their competitors for the Celtic Cup title in July. As both teams are evenly matched in the world rankings (Scotland 21, Ireland 23) these could prove to be some fiercely contested matches.
National coach and Scottish Institute of Sport High Performance coach Mathias Ahrens is taking a near-full complement of players to Aberdeen for the three-match series to try out different combinations.
Missing the trip through injury will be captain Mike Leonard (Grange) and keeper Kris Kane (Western Wildcats). This is particularly disappointing news for Leonard as he would have reached his 100th cap for Scotland over the weekend. Olympian Niall Stott is also unavailable due to work commitments.
Two local boys are fielded in the side; Ali McGregor and Craig Harper are both Gordonians players and will be looking for a big home support to spur them on to victory. Harper captained Scotland’s Under 21 men to victory in the Junior Celtic Cup in Aberdeen last summer so will be hoping to find that winning formula once again.
Scotland’s Paddy Conlon will find himself facing one of his team mates on the pitch as Ireland have selected Gordon Elliott who plays for Conlon’s club Pembroke Wanderers.
'Due to the facilities made available to us by Robert Gordon’s College we are able to take nearly our full squad for this series. This will be one of the few times that we will have everyone together in a competitive environment and will give us a great opportunity to look at some of the fringe players ahead of our European campaign,” team manager Eugene Connolly said.
In addition to playing the matches, the Scotland squad will be coaching pupils from Robert Gordon’s College on Saturday.
All matches are open to the public and admission is free.
Scotland Men
Jonathan Christie (Kelburne) 37 Caps
Michael Christie (Kelburne) 3 Caps
Paddy Conlon (Pembroke Wanderers, Ireland) 34 Caps
Alan Dick (Inverleith) 4 Caps
Stephen Dick (Inverleith) 9 Caps
Graham Dunlop (Greaves Clydesdale) 89 Caps
Gareth Hall (Kelburne) 3 Cap
Craig Harper (Gordonians) 8 Caps
David Knipe (Grange) 12 Caps
Andy McBride (Annandale HC, Ireland) 36 Caps
Alistair McGregor (Gordonians) 25 Caps
Dave Mansouri (Western Wildcats) 3 Caps
Vishal Marwaha (Western Wildcats) 102 Caps
David Mitchell (Western Wildcats) 44 Caps
Graham Moodie (Cannock, England) 41 Caps
Chris Nelson (Kelburne) 9 Caps
David Ralph (Loughborough, England) 91 Caps
Derek Salmond (Inverleith) 3 Caps
Mark Ralph (Kelburne) 51 Caps
Andrew Sewnauth (Western Wildcats) 35 Caps
Douglas Simpson (Western Wildcats) 6 Caps
Management Team:
Coach: Mathias Ahrens
Assistant Coach Gordon Shepherd
Assistant Coach Callum McLeod
Team Manager Eugene Connolly
Match Schedule
Friday 10 June, Scotland v Ireland, 7.30pm
Saturday 11 June, Scotland v Ireland, 4pm
Sunday 12 June, Scotland v Ireland, 9am
