Donegal duo Luke Witherow and Alexander Tinney have been selected as part of the Irish Under-21 Hockey team for the U21 European Tournament in Litice, Czech Republic.
Witherow and Tinney are part of an 18-strong Irish squad named by head coach Denis Pritchard.
Both players now play for Banbridge in the top tier of the Irish Hockey League having cut their teeth with Raphoe Hockey Club.
In the build up to the Europeans France came over for a three-match series against the boys in green, played in early April. All three games ended in draws.
The squad has been together from January training regularly in Dublin, Cork and Belfast.
This program is all self-funded with the squad holding fundraising events and searching for sponsorship.
Witherow has been selected as the Irish vice-captain.
The Irish U21s have played challenge games against Ireland’s U18s and Glenanne, a club from Dublin, while they played three games against Scotland’s U21s – Ireland winning 4-1, 4-2 and 3-1.
Ireland, who have a practice game against Scotland on Friday, open their tournament against Belarus on Sunday before facing Czech Republic on Tuesday and their final group game is against Turkey on Wednesday.
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