Hockey Ireland have confirmed that the venue for the two-legged Women’s Olympic qualifier between the Ireland and Canada will take place in the Donnybrook rugby stadium at Energia Park.
Hockey Ireland received the go-ahead from Leinster Rugby to install a roll-out pitch for the back-to-back games which take place on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd November.
Sean Dancer’s side will enjoy home advantage in their two-legged tie as a result of their top ten rankings in the world.
The matches will be for a place at next summers Olympics in Tokyo. The games will be played on ‘pop up’ pitch which will be over-layed on top of the current synthetic rugby surface currently in place. The hockey pitch will not damage the rugby surface.
The stadium has a capacity of 6,000 with the matches taking place on the 2nd and 3rd of November.
“We’re excited to announce Energia Park in Donnybrook as the venue for the Women’s Olympic qualifier matches against Canada this November. This is a huge step for the sport in Ireland to play hockey in a venue of this size”, said Jerome Pels, the CEO of Hockey Ireland
“We’d like to thank Leinster Rugby for accommodating us in Energia Park and look forward to bringing this event to fruition”, he added.
Hockey Ireland Announce Olympic Qualifier Venue https://t.co/nnH9jfSlNa pic.twitter.com/0HQsNqXCYO
— Irish Hockey (@irishhockey) September 11, 2019