Sean Dancer steps down as Ireland women's hockey head coach

Ireland missed the chance of going to the Olympics after slipping to defeat against Great Britain in the qualifiers in January.

Dancer joined as head coach in May 2019 having moved from his role as assistant coach in New Zealand and guided Ireland to their first ever Olympic games and a World Cup, while most recently he oversaw the team’s best result of fifth in Europe.

Reflecting on his decision, Dancer said: “I would like to thank Hockey Ireland, Sport Ireland, Sport Northern Ireland, and all the sponsors for providing me the support and opportunity to lead and drive the Women’s programme over the last six years.

"As a team there have certainly been some ups and downs, but I am extremely proud of the team's consistency competing and performing at three Europeans, a World Cup and an Olympic Games.

"It has been an amazing experience for me and my family getting to understand the unique Irish sporting culture and skills. But more importantly it was an honour getting to know each individual of our special group.

"I wish the players and staff all the best for the future, and look forward to the opportunity of cheering from the stands with the great Green Army family.”

Looking back on Ireland’s failure to qualify for Paris 2024, Dancer said his side ultimately came up.

"We didn’t get the end result and fell short,” he said. “But the performance was easily the best showing of the group over the last two years.

"Not only did our key focus areas reviewed from the Europeans dramatically improve. We drew against Belgium, who I feel will be certainly competing for a medal at Paris.

"We comfortably beat Korea, who are ranked above us and we dominated Spain in the semi, with our goal keeper not touching the ball in 60 minutes of hockey.

"Unfortunately, as a team we didn’t make the most of our opportunities including goal shots, [penalty corners] and a shootout,” Dancer added.

"Our final game versus GB was the best performance against them at a major in my time with the team. I am extremely proud of our January performance, and I do hope that at some stage people can look back and see the quality of it.”

Hockey Ireland High Performance Director Lisa Jacob said Dancer had made a ‘huge and positive contribution’ to the team’s development.

“We wish Sean the very best as he steps away from the programme and seeks new opportunities,” she said.

"He has made a huge and positive contribution to the development of the team, and the results and successes bear testament to that.

"On a personal note, Sean has been a true professional and a pleasure to work with and on behalf of all the players and the staff, I want to recognise that and thank him for his contribution.”

The head coach role will be filled on an interim basis from within the current coaching set-up until a successor for Dancer is found.