Ireland men’s head coach Mark Tumilty is excited about the “freshness” of his squad heading into the EuroHockey Championship qualifier run in Dublin.

The 18-strong panel picked by Tumilty features a number of changes from the Olympic Games squad for Paris – with Mark Ingram, James Milliken, Luke Madeley, Louis Rowe, Charlie Rowe and Luke Witherow selected plus Jonny Lynch and Ali Empey moving up from the reserve list.

The EuroHockey Championship Qualifier B format operates as a knockout competition with Ireland joined by Wales, Italy, Poland, Czechia, Türkiye, Malta and Luxembourg.

Each side will play three games – starting on August 22 before Friday’s ranking games, the semi-finals on Saturday and Sunday’s final towards securing the coveted place next year in Germany’s EuroHockey Championships.

placeholder image — Ireland men's hockey head coach Mark Tumilty. (Photo by Hockey Ireland)

Ireland, placed ninth in the world rankings, open on Thursday against Malta (ranked 72) from 5.45.

“There are a number of changes because of unavailability, but the new players will bring a freshness into the group...I am happy with this squad,” said Tumilty. “I always thought there would be changes from the Olympic squad.

"Mark Ingram has missed a lot of international hockey over the years due to work commitments, but he has an opportunity to shine at this tournament.

"James Milliken has earned his chance to be involved as back-up to Mark.

"Luke Madeley has been very unfortunate with injury to miss out on the Olympics, but, hopefully, he can get in a full season with Three Rock Rovers in 2024/25 and he will be another option at penalty corners.

"Luke Witherow has trained extremely well over the past three months and was unlucky not to make the Paris games.

"We let Charlie and Louis Rowe concentrate on the Under 21 EuroHockey Championships in the latter part of the summer and are delighted to have them involved this week.

“We’ve played a lot of games this year as the underdog and the focus in those matches had to be on what we did without the ball.

"Our challenge this week is what we can do with the ball and it begins with the game against Malta on Thursday night.

"Hopefully, we will have enough to get through that and advance to the semi-final on Saturday.

"No matter who we end up against, (if in a semi-final) Italy or Poland will each present a challenge.

"We haven’t had it easy against Italy, who will offer a significant challenge.

"They were unfortunate to be eliminated from the European B Championships in a shoot-out by Ukraine last summer in Dublin.

"And if anybody other than Wales qualify for the final it will be either Czechia or Türkiye...we played against Türkiye in Calais a few years ago and against Czechia in Dublin last year.

"If the World Rankings are borne out by the results this week, the most likely candidate to be in the final is Wales, provided we get through the semi-final.

"Four of their players have been part of Great Britain squads this year...three were at the Olympics in Paris and we played against their goalkeeper Toby Reynolds-Cotterill during the FIH Pro League in London.

"Wales beat us in a World Cup qualifier in 2021.

Tumilty was clear on future targets and past Olympic reflections.

“We have to win this tournament in order to return to the European A Division Championship in 2025,” he said. “We were relegated from that division in 2019.

"The way the format is structured for the tournament is such, that if we qualify for 2025, we will also qualify to be in the A Championships that’s been awarded in 2027.

“Reflecting back on Paris 2024 Olympic Games, while I was satisfied with the performances and how we handled ourselves in those games, there was an opportunity to qualify for a quarter-final that wasn’t taken.

"This has to be viewed as a first step on the road to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

“The next step is the big step. Breaking into the top eight nations in hockey.

"We’ve got to have aspirations to do that…playing the top nations on a consistent basis helps develop teams faster.

"Being in the A Division is important in that process...qualifying for the next FIH Pro League by winning a Nations Cup must be a goal too.”

IRELAND: Mark Ingram, James Milliken, Shane O’Donoghue, Kyle Marshall, Luke Witherow, Lee Cole, Luke Madeley, Tim Cross, Michael Robson, Peter Brown, Jonny Lynch, Daragh Walsh, Charlie Rowe, Alistair Empey, Matthew Nelson, Ben Johnson, Ben Walker, Louis Rowe.