The Ireland Women’s Hockey team captured the public’s imagination with their exploits last summer, as they upset the form book and confounded all predictions by reaching the World Cup final in London.
Now, their return to competitive action will be shown live by BBC Sport NI as Banbridge Hockey club hosts the FIH Series Finals from 8th to the 16th June.
The quest for a place at the Olympic Games for the first time ever begins for Ireland with the eight-nation tournament. All of Ireland’s games will be streamed live on the BBC Sport NI website.
The team’s first match in the tournament is against Malaysia on Saturday 8th June at 3pm. They then take on the Czech Republic on Sunday 9th June at 3pm, before completing the group stage with a game against Singapore at 2pm on Tuesday 11th June. The tournament’s semi-final stage and final are on Saturday 15th June and Sunday 16h June respectively.
Nigel Ringland and Simon Mason will be joined in the commentary booth by former Irish international Alex Speers, current Belfast Harlequins player Jenna Watt and Olympic gold medallist Stephen Martin.
Eddie Doyle, BBC NI Head of Content Production, says: “The world cup heroics of captain Katie Mullan and her side were the feel-good sports story of last summer. Now the serious business of qualifying for the Olympic Games for the first time ever begins with this tournament – and we’re delighted to show all of Ireland’s games live on the BBC Sport NI website.”