“We are playing several of the world’s top 10 within eight days; we’ve only ever played one of the top 10 before but it is exactly what we want!”
Coach Brinsley Powell’s assessment simply illustrates the size of the challenge they face in Heidelberg and the speed of travel for the Irish men from their return to international indoor in 2020 to the top Championship table.
Another marker: promotion and their ticket to Heidelberg was achieved from Championship II-A in 2024 in Paredes in front of scarcely 50 people – 30 of them Irish – with the host nation not in attendance.
Next week, their second Championship game will see them face hosts Germany in front of a raucous SNP Arena with close to 5,000 filling the tribunes.
“It is exactly what we have worked so hard for,” Powell continues. “We are acutely aware of our underdog status but it’s exactly what we’ve been building towards.”
History in the making
It will be Ireland’s first official EuroHockey Championship top tier event though indoor was popular in the country through the 1980s with a national team lining out during that time.
But it died away in the 1990s and moves to revive an Irish team only resurfaced in the past decade with the likes of Kenny Carroll and Rob Abbott pushing the agenda.
And, while court availability is an issue, there is a growing movement with several new youth competitions cropping up for the code at emerging clubs like Portrane and Boyne.
Testing the waters in 2020 in Championship III in Spain, they finished third; two years later, they won silver and promotion in Cyprus; then finally gold in Portugal with a late salvo to defeat Denmark 3-1 in the final.
Family ties
Ross Canning (31) fittingly struck the two clinching goals in the last three minutes; along with goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe, he has been along for each step of the journey, amassing 45 goals in 23 caps.
His father, Liam, is one of the Irish indoor pioneers, playing to a high level before pushing Three Rock Rovers to take the boards more seriously. Under his coaching, they have won 11 of the past 14 National Indoor Trophy titles.
Ross grew up in that environment and it soon became a part of his hockey DNA.
“I probably wasn’t naturally the best at indoor, given my physique. I was fairly gangly at 15, even at 18. But I always felt it helped my outdoor game. Over time, I stopped viewing it that way and saw it as a sport very much of its own.”
It has duly taken him around the world, playing Euro club events from Tbilisi to Oslo; Malatya to Mannheim with Three Rock while the Pro Series Indoor took him to South Africa to play in an all-star team.
But the international scene was not something which was ever in his line of sight.
“I didn’t understand why it wasn’t a thing,” he admits. “Even now, I don’t understand why it’s not more of a thing. But once the opportunity came up, I just wanted to play.”
The spark for something bigger came during a trip to the Indoor World Cup in Berlin. “I remember thinking, this is great—something I’d love to play in one day. The atmosphere was brilliant and that motivation stayed.”
Once the door was opened by their national federation, then it was about seeing where it could take the team.
“It wasn’t initially about building a pathway to the top division. It was about getting it going, keeping it going, and improving every tournament.”
Powell’s influence
That’s where Powell came in. His own journey into Irish indoor hockey was serendipitous. A long‑time indoor coach who caught the bug early in South Africa’s PSI movement and enrolled in an FIH indoor coaching course around the COVID period.
A chance meeting with Abbott soon after being co-opted by Irish club Corinthian as outdoor coach and he was soon “jumping on board”.
During his tenure, Powell speaks of a “tight‑knit squad” that has evolved with minimal churn: “There’s been very few changes, probably one change every tour. We’ve widened the panel to about 22, but it’s largely the same group that’s grown together over three years.”
There’s a spine of versatility running through the group. Craig Mackay and Jody Hosking can be deployed almost anywhere.
Greg Williams – one of the Irish stars of the Junior World Cup in December in India – and James Walker will be the key goal-getters while there are 10 of the side that won promotion involved once again.
Harry MacMahon is the one event rookie with Ollie Kidd back in having played in 2022 in Cyprus.
“We chose a versatile squad because indoor in Ireland is still small,” Powell explains. “These guys have had to be adaptable. But there’s also proper experience now—our lowest cap count is around nine, and several have 30 internationals [when a six-game uncapped series with Malaysia is factored in].”
Self-funding
What makes Ireland’s ascent more striking is the scaffolding beneath it. The senior men’s indoor program remains outside the Hockey Ireland national high‑performance banner, leaving players and staff to self‑fund their way to Europe’s elite.
Their commitment has seen them travel to South Africa for 2024’s Nkosi Cup, Malaysia last summer for an uncapped series and they went to Denmark for four matches in two days in December. And they race off to Vienna for the Rohrmax Cup for first ever games with Austria, Belgium and Czechia.
Powell doesn’t sugar‑coat it.
“Unbelievably difficult; these players have bought in like semi‑pros, dare I say professionals. They’ve invested a lot of time and money to be where they are.”
As such, they have to make smart choices which suit the players as opposed to management dictating what can and can’t be done.
The logistics have been collectively agreed with the squad, mindful of the self‑funding reality but committed to performance. Ireland fly on January 2nd at 5.30am for the Rohrmax Cup, then take the train via Frankfurt to settle in Heidelberg by January 6th, early enough to remove travel turbulence from the championship week.
An in‑house edge helps with those decisions: goalkeeper Jakim Berndsen is also the squad’s sports scientist, providing evidence‑led guidance on loading and recovery.
“He’s given great feedback for two years. The players understood the rationale—fewer logistics later, better prep now.”
There’s also been the occasional left‑field stimulus. Powell enlisted Mackay’s brother Euan who is in the Irish Army for some extra variety to their most recent camp.
As for the bigger picture in Heidelberg. Powell – and Canning’s – tone Is measured and does not drift far from a central truth; being at the top table matters.
Canning adds: “We’re aware of the challenge, but we do go into it all with a naive confidence”.
Powell adds: “We’ve worked extremely hard over three years for this,” Powell says. “We won the B‑Division two years ago in front of maybe 50 people. Now it might be 5,000. It’ll be difficult, of course. But we’re excited, and we’ll give a full account of ourselves.”
Ireland squad: Stephen O’Keeffe (Three Rock Rovers), Jakim Bernsden (Avoca), Jody Hosking (Three Rock Rovers), Ollie Kidd (Lisnagarvey), Jack Haycock (Cookstown), Harry MacMahon (Three Rock Rovers), Greg Williams (Corinthian), Scott McCabe (Queen’s), Ross Canning (Three Rock Rovers), Rory Patterson (Wimbledon), James Walker (Three Rock Rovers), Craig Mackay (Corinthian)
