EuroHockey Championships: Ireland women set for Monchengladbach challenge

Katie Mullan and her Ireland team-mates will face England in Friday's opening game in Germany before further pool contests against Scotland and the hosts

Ireland's women return to action at the EuroHockey Championships in Monchengladbach, Germany this week.

It's been a year since Sean Dancer's side qualified for the Euros by winning a four-team tournament in Dublin and eight months since they finished fourth in the FIH Nations Cup in Valencia.

Since then, it has been all about preparing to challenge for a place at the Paris Olympics next summer.

The European Championships will be a big step in that process.

"We've had a brilliant run in," says captain Katie Mullan.

"Obviously, the last tournament we played was the Nations Cup and then we had a busy start to the year with getting to Spain and then over to Argentina.

'We've prepared really well'

"We had a brilliant trip recently to Holland, where we played Holland and Australia, and then more recently last week we played Chile.

"Even though we haven't played in any tournaments we've prepared really well, and we've grown so much as a squad through that experience," added the Irish skipper.

Ireland have been drawn in Pool B with England, Germany and Scotland with world number one and defending champions Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Italy in Pool A in a tournament with many targets.

Win it, become Continental Champions, and claim a place at the Olympics.

Reach the semi-finals and achieve Ireland's highest ever finish - they've come fifth several times.

Ensure a top-six finish that would secure their place at the next EuroHockey Championships in 2025.

Katie Mullan is hoping to represent Ireland in a second Olympics next summer after captaining her country at the Tokyo Games in 2021

There are also six places available for the Olympic Qualifiers in January. Barring a Scottish win, as they can't qualify for the Paris Games, that place for Ireland will be confirmed at the completion of the Europeans regardless of results.

Mullan added: "We have a tough group but both groups are tough at the Europeans.

"That's the beauty of the competition. You have five of the world's top 10 in one continental championship.

"There are three group games and we're going out to target each of them and do the best we can and put in consistent performances.

"We're looking for consistency because we believe in what we're doing. We believe in the style of play that we now have and yeah, it's going to be great to watch, I think."

It's now a very settled Ireland squad after losing so many players after the Tokyo Olympics two years ago.

Mullan says new blood has boosted Irish

Five uncapped players were introduced to international hockey just over 12 months ago at the World Cup. Now they've established themselves.

"It's so exciting and when we spoke last year in preparation for the World Cup, I would have said the same thing, that it was very exciting because I've seen time and time, week in, week out, what these youngsters can do and their flair and their confidence and their belief," continued Mullan.

"It's just fantastic and its motivation to all of us senior players every time we take the field with them.

"But the difference this year is you now see them with a little bit of experience under their belt. And again, having played those top nations, they now know what they can do, and they've got the evidence and that's something we take huge confidence in going to the Europeans."

Ireland open the tournament in their first match against England on Friday followed by the clash with Scotland on Saturday evening. The final Pool game will be against the hosts Germany next Tuesday.