Bell off to Malaysia with Ireland

Lisnagarvey captain Jonny Bell is hoping he can help Ireland begin their path to the Olympic Games in positive style this weekend.
Mandatory Credit: Rowland White/Presseye
Men's Hockey: Senior Celtic Cup
Teams: Ireland (green) v Scotland (blue)
Venue: Lisnagarvey
Date: 30th June 2012
Caption: Jonathan Bell, IrelandMandatory Credit: Rowland White/Presseye
Men's Hockey: Senior Celtic Cup
Teams: Ireland (green) v Scotland (blue)
Venue: Lisnagarvey
Date: 30th June 2012
Caption: Jonathan Bell, Ireland
Mandatory Credit: Rowland White/Presseye Men's Hockey: Senior Celtic Cup Teams: Ireland (green) v Scotland (blue) Venue: Lisnagarvey Date: 30th June 2012 Caption: Jonathan Bell, Ireland

The qualification tournament for Rio 2016 isn’t until February next year but Bell and his Ireland team-mates are already looking forward to it as they take on the Champions Challenge in Malaysia this weekend.

Bell is the only Garvey representative in the 18 man squad as Timmy Cockram is unavailable and Jason Lynch was named as a reserve.

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Ireland begin their campaign against New Zealand tomorrow (Saturday). They’ll also take on Poland (Sunday) and Japan (Tuesday) in the group stages, aiming to secure a spot in the Champions Challenge quarter-finals.

However, even more important than the results, Bell says, is the progression of the squad towards February’s qualifications.

“It’s now all about the development of the squad now looking forward to the Olympic qualifications next year,” he said. “Results at this stage probably aren’t the be all and end all.

“Obviously we want to win as many games as we can but it’s mainly about the process of preparing for the qualification.”

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Garvey captain Jonny Bell knows he and the Ireland side will have their work cut out for them against a host of experienced teams in the Champions Challenge in Malaysia this weekend.

However, the 27 year-old is hoping the tournament might just be the start of a thrilling journey to the Olympic Games.

He said: “It’s always a massive honour to represent your country. I think the Irish squad are capable of doing very big things and with the new coach (Craig Fulton) coming in, it is really exciting times. Hopefully we can start building in Malaysia and then come 2015 we’ll be able to have a real crack at qualifying for the Olympics.

“The Champions Challenge is obviously something we’d like to win. You always have to go trying to do as best as you can. The other teams have all picked full strength squads. Looking at teams like New Zealand, their squads have an average of about 130 caps each. Our squad will have an average of about 40 each.

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“That’s the difference in experience but that’s a good challenge. That’s when big players put their hands up so it’s a big opportunity for guys to stake a claim for a place in the squad going forward. Everyone will want to impress the new boss.”

Bell and the Ireland team set off last Thursday on a 24-hour journey to Kuantan, where the conditions and surroundings will be far from the norm for the Ireland boys.

Bell said: “The biggest challenge will be not only the high quality opposition, but also the high temperatures and the humidity, especially coming from ireland where we aren’t used to that. The acclimatisation will be a challenge.

“We have over a week out there before our first game so it’ll be full-on training to get used to it and then fine-tuning before the tournament begins.

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“It will be nice to be in different surroundings as opposed to playing tournaments in Europe. This will be the furthest away I’ve been with Ireland so it’ll be a new experience.

“I’m relatively inexperienced at international level so I’ll still be on a learning curve too. Every time you put on the Ireland shirt, you’re learning something new and you’re always developing no matter what age you are.

“Hopefully it’ll be a good experience for everyone.”

Bell is the lone Lisnagarvey man in the Ireland squad as Jason Lynch, who played against England two weeks ago, was only named as a reserve for the Champions Challenge team while goal-scorer supreme Timmy Cockram wasn’t available for the tournament.

“We have a couple that weren’t available, who otherwise would have been in the squad,” said Bell. “Timmy (Cockram) has work commitment and Daniel Buser, in my view, would have been picked but he’s been injured quite a lot. Jason Lynch narrowly missed out but it’s one of those things.”

Later on this summer, Ireland will play a tournament in Spain before a Four Nations tournament in Belfast.

Ireland go into the Champions Challenge 15th in the World Rankings.

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