Ireland hoping to continue excellent EuroHockey qualifying record

Ireland will be trying to find a balance between youth and experience when they take to the field for the EuroHockey Championship qualifiers in Dublin this weekend, according to captain Katie Mullan.

The Green Army are set to host Poland, Czechia and Turkey respectively at Sport Campus Ireland on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. There is just one qualifying place up for grabs for the finals, which will be held in Germany in August of next year.

Ireland finish 11th at World Cup after defeat to China

The hosts come into the tournament as the favourites at 13th in the latest World rankings, with the Czechs 23rd, Poland 27th and Turkey 33rd.

Ireland have had an up and down 18 months since they finished sixth at the last EuroHockey Championship in The Netherlands in June of last year.

They failed to emerge from their pool at the Tokyo Olympics last July but bounced back to qualify for the World Cup. Another trip to The Netherlands ended in disappointment though, as they finished bottom of their pool and had to settle for 11th place overall.

"This group has had a huge turnover since Tokyo last summer with retirements," captain Mullan said on RTÉ's Game On.

"We've a lot of young players with a lot of flair and a lot of talent. We're just trying to get the balance right between sharing the experience of some of us older players with those young players, but also keeping their youth and flair out on the pitch.

"We learned a lot at the World Cup this year. We know that we can put it up to the best in the world. This week we have to take control and bring our level to the game, and it should be a fun week.

"We've worked on a lot since the summer. We've focused a lot on the training pitch on what we need to do, and the basics we need to bring.