Ireland’s involvement gets underway this Sunday in Canterbury, England with Ireland competing at women’s O-40s and O-50s level while the men have three teams, playing at O-40, O-45 and O-50 level.

This is a FIH fully sanctioned Masters World Cup. There are four age groups for the men and two for women. For the latter, the O-40s team features Mairead and is a combination of the O-40s and O-45s who participated in the Home Countries in June. They will play matches against Wales, England, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland and South Africa in a round robin competition and they get their tournament underway on Sunday.

This is the first outing, meanwhile, for an Ireland Women’s O-50s team which Maura will play for. They will play against Wales, England, Australia and New Zealand. Both squads are being coached by Three Rock man Benjamin Epstein,