Ireland women's hockey team are one step closer to the Rio Olympics, and their coach Darren Smith is in positive mood facing the final qualification hurdle in June.
The Green Machine won a World League 2 event at UCD last week. They now look forward to a qualifier tournament, which will confirm six the 12 teams heading to Brazil, in Valencia in the summer.
Listen to Darren Smith with Oisin Langan here:
"We compete well on the international stage," Smith told Newstalk's Oisin Langan after a series of games which included a 7-0 thrashing of Belarus and an impressive victory over Canada.
"There's so many top programmes competing for the 12 spots for the Olympics that its difficult one to get your nose in there.
"What we have to do is finish in the top six of that 10-nation tournament in Valencia in June, but we'll be up against some programmes that mean serious business."
Thanks to our fantastic management team. We love you all. #teambehindtheteam pic.twitter.com/zEoXp33fnI
— Ire Women's Hockey (@IreWomenHockey) March 23, 2015
The New Zealander continued: "If we qualify it will be received fanatically, not only by the hockey public who crave to have a Irish team in the Olympic games, but also the sporting public in Ireland who are so passionate about successful teams.
"So we're hopeful we can do a good job and play well. It's going to be a tough gig but I'm hopeful we can do the job."
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