The pain of losing to China on penalty strokes in Valencia last June, a defeat that put a sizeable dent in the team’s efforts to qualify for the Olympic Games, probably hasn’t eased just yet, and as luck would have it the Chinese will be Ireland’s first opponents when they take part in the Hawkes Bay Cup in New Zealand in April.

Graham Shaw’s side has been invited to take part in what is a top class tournament with several of the line-up using it to fine tune their preparations for Rio. The team has been drawn in a pool with hosts New Zealand, ranked four in the world, China (5) and India (13), with the other pool made up of Australia, the world’s third ranked side, Korea (9), Japan (10) and Canada, the only team in the competition ranked below Ireland.

Emotion involved

“There will obviously be emotion involved in that opening match but we will be 100 per cent focused on each opponent and take one match at a time,” said Shaw. “There were plenty of lessons to take from Valencia and the China match in particular. I’m confident we’ve matured as a squad.

Back home, several of Shaw’s squad will be in Irish Senior Cup action on Saturday with the competition reaching the quarter-final stage.

Cup holders Ulster Elks have a tricky obstacle standing between them and a place in the last four in the shape of Pegasus while the two other Ulster sides left in the draw are away to Dublin clubs – Ballymoney take on Hermes, last season’s beaten finalists, while Ards meet Railway Union, the 2013 cup winners.

The only all-Leinster tie of the round takes places at Belfield where UCD host Loreto.

WEEKEND FIXTURES

Irish Senior Cup quarter-finals

Saturday: Hermes v Ballymoney, Booterstown, 2.0; Railway Union v Ards, Park Avenue, 2.0; Pegasus v Ulster Elks, Queens, 2.30; UCD v Loreto, Belfield, 2.45.