Bann trio in Irish squad for Hamburg

Matthew Bell. who is in line for his first Irish international cap.

The tournament is taking place in Germany from July 25-28. The Irish coach has selected his panel for the Four Nations Tournament that includes Germany, England & The Netherlands and will be used to prepare the team ahead of the TriFinance EuroHockey Championships in Belgium in August.

Matthew Bell is in line to win his first international cap as Meredith made a string of changes to the Irish senior men’s panel for the upcoming tournament. He is set to become the ninth current Bann club man to earn an international cap and is one of several changes to the Irish side that lined out for the World League round three in Rotterdam last month.

Two other Banbridge players are also back in the panel with Peter Brown returning after a dose of the mumps and Bruce McCandless returning after an injury which prevented him from playing in the World League round three.

Other local players, Jonny Bell and James Lorimer of Lisnagarvey HC were also selected as part of the 18 man panel for the Hamburg Masters.

Speaking about the tournament, Irish Coach Andrew Meredith said “It’s an excellent opportunity to test ourselves against two of the top nations in the world, in addition to providing a great vehicle to build experience in an extremely high quality, competitive environment for some of the younger members involved in the program.”