The Ireland squad that will compete in the upcoming Argentina Hockey Champions Challenge I has been announced.   Newly appointed coach Andrew Meredith has selected an eighteen player group following a five day training camp in Holland. The tournament takes place between 24th November and 2nd December in Quilmes, near Buenos Aires.

Commenting on his selection Meredith said: "The Champions Challenge in Argentina will provide a great test for the team, in what should be an extremely close and difficult competition.  I would expect that a number of the teams will view this as an excellent opportunity to qualify for the 2013 Champions trophy, and to gain very valuable world ranking points, and given the history of recent results, Ireland would be viewed as being among those teams.

He continued: “The tournament presents a very good platform for me to have a good look at where we are in terms of experience and positional coverage, in a challenging environment against quality opposition.”

The Irish men face hosts Argentina on November 24, Japan on November 25 and South Africa on November 27 before the quarter-finals on November 29, which are followed by the semi-finals and cross-pool playoffs on December 1. The medal and classification matches are on December 2.

For more information on the Argentina Hockey Champions Challenge 1 please visit the official FIH tournament web pages by clicking the following link:

 http://www.fih.ch/en/competitions-170-argentina-hockey-champions-challenge-1-men

Ireland squad
Christopher CARGO (Reading, England)
Peter CARUTH (Braxgata, Belgium)
Timothy COCKRAM (Lisnagarvey)
Mitch DARLING (Three Rock Rovers)
David FITZGERALD (GK) (Monkstown)
Paul GLEGHORNE (Instonians)
Ronan GORMLEY (Krefeld HC, Germany)
Conor HARTE (SCHC, Holland)
David HARTE (GK) (SV Kampong, Holland)
John JACKSON (Braxgata, Belgium)
John JERMYN (Royal Pingouin Nivellois, Belgium)          
Stuart LOUGHREY (Loughborough Students, England)
Eugene MAGEE (Krefeld HC, Germany)
Geoff McCABE (Santander, Spain)
Bruce McCANDLESS (Banbridge)
Andy McCONNELL (THC Hurley, Holland)
Shane O’DONOGHUE (UCD)
Michael WATT (SCHC, Holland)

For more information on the Argentina Hockey Champions Challenge 1 please visit the official FIH webpages by clicking the following link:

 http://www.fih.ch/en/competitions-170-argentina-hockey-champions-challenge-1-men

Source material: Irish Hockey Association media release.