Gareth Grundie succeeds Sean Dancer as coach of Ireland's women hockey side

Gareth Grundie has been named as the new head coach of Ireland's senior women's hockey side.

Belfast native Grundie replaces Sean Dancer who stepped down in March this year after the team narrowly failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, losing to Great Britain in the qualifiers in January.

Grundie was Ireland interim head coach in 2019, where he successfully guided the squad through critical qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics, a first in the team's history.

The 46-year-old was recently at the helm of the Czech Republic, leading them to a silver medal in Division 2 of the European Championships and to bronze at the Indoor World Cup, and up to second in the world indoor rankings.

Grundie will now guide Ireland into a busy 2025 competitive calendar which includes the FIH Nations Cup in Chile in February, and the EuroHockey Championships in August in Germany where the Netherlands, Germany and France will provide the opposition.