The Rio-qualified Irish men's team has moved up to an all-time official high of 12th in the latest world rankings. (Unofficially, Ireland were ranked 12th in the world in 1990 when the team qualified for the Lahore World Cup. )
It’s a ranking, however, Ireland will want to improve on in the coming months if a podium place at the Olympics is to be a reality. To that end Ireland will take on Spain in a three-match series in Barcelona at the end this month and beginning of December as Olympic preparation steps up.
The first match in the Rio tournament begins on August 6th and runs until Friday 19th next year in what will be the biggest tournament in the history of the sport in Ireland.
Spain are currently ranked one place above Ireland at 11th in the world and have also qualified for Rio 2016 Olympics through their performance in World League 3 and subsequent results at the European Championships.
In the new year Ireland will embark on a warm weather training camp in South Africa, which is what the team did earlier this year before the qualification process for Rio.
“We play three important Tests against Spain at the beginning of December.
It will be an important phase for us after officially qualifying for Rio as Spain is also a qualified team for the Summer Olympics," said Ireland's South African-born coach Craig Fulton.
"They have a strong squad of players. We have a few players back for Ireland in Maurice Elliot, James Lorimer and Gareth Watkins all strong additions and we look forward to the time together and performing in the Test matches."
The exceptions
All but five of the 20-man squad are now positioned in Irish clubs with the exceptions being Chris Cargo in Racing, Maurice Elliot in Beerschot, Ronan Gormley in Krefeld and Conor Harte in Racing.
Harte’s goalkeeping twin brother David, who is not currently available, plays with Kampong in the Netherlands and will travel to India to compete in the professional Indian Hockey League with Dabang Mumbai.
Ireland will also hope to host a tournament next year before the team travels to Brazil.
IRELAND (squad): M Bell (Banbridge), J Bell (Lisnagarvey), J Bruton (Monkstown), T Cockram (Lisnagarvey), S Cole (Monkstown), J Carr (GK, Three Rock Rovers), C Cargo (Racing), L Chadwick (Three Rock Rovers), D Fitzgerald (GK, Monkstown), M Elliott (Beerschot), K Good (Monkstown), R Gormley (Krefeld), N Glassey (Lisnagarvey), C Harte (Racing), J Jackson (Reading), J Lorimer (Lisnagarvey), M Robson (Annadale), A Sothern (Pembroke), K Shimmins (Pembroke), G Watkins (Monkstown).
