HOCKEY IRELAND HAVE announced that Gareth Grundie will succeed Sean Dancer as head coach of the Ireland senior women’s hockey team.
Grundie will take the reins from 1 November, replacing Dancer who stepped away from the role in March after Ireland’s hopes of reaching the Paris Olympics were ended by Great Britain two months earlier.
Belfast native Grundie previously held the role of interim head coach with Ireland, steering the side through critical qualifiers in 2019 en route to their first ever Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
More recently, the 46-year-old achieved success with the Czech Republic women’s team, who won a silver medal at the 2023 European Championships II and a bronze at the Indoor World Cup in South Africa, the latter elevating the team to no.2 in the indoor world rankings.
Grundie, who was previously involved in Hockey Ireland’s transformative Junior Age Group programme, will lead the senior national team into a busy 2025 which includes the FIH Nations Cup in Chile in February and the EuroHockey Championships in Germany in August.
For the Euros, Ireland have been drawn in Pool A alongside 2023 European champions and the world’s current top-ranked side The Netherlands, world no.3 Germany, and Olympic hosts France who are ranked 19th in the world.
Gareth brings over 25 years of coaching experience and a proven track record of delivering world-class results at the highest levels of the sport.
Most recently, Gareth served as Head Coach of the Czech Republic Senior Women’s team, leading them to success, including a silver medal at the 2023 European Championships II and a bronze medal at the Indoor World Cup in South Africa, elevating the team to No. 2 in the indoor world rankings. His leadership also secured the Czech team’s place at the Olympic Qualifiers for Paris 2024, demonstrating his ability to build and execute long-term performance goals.
Previously, Gareth was involved in Hockey Ireland’s Junior Age Group programme and was instrumental in the rise of the Ireland Senior Women’s team, guiding them to that historic silver medal at the 2018 World Cup and helping the team achieve their highest-ever world ranking of 8th.
His role as Interim Head Coach in 2019 saw Ireland navigate through critical qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics, a first in the team’s history.
That was a brilliant read, great insight there.
I was at the fight and really thought they’d give it to serrano, especially with the point deduction. Such a buzz when I heard and still!!
Nice to read an in depth boxing profile like that. Boxing journalism has a great tradition.
I hope Katie calls it a day. People like Jake Paul will take every ounce of blood they can and they have serious financial clout nowadays.
She’s too good for it imo
Great article Gavan…factual and honest
Zero Class from Serrano, her coach and her clueless keyboard warriors. Not surprising really.
@Putland Road: That whole event was set up for Serrano. MVP promote Serrano. It was held in Texas. The commentary on the fight was beyond biased. Thank God Roy Jones refused to toe the Serrano line. The crowd overwhelmingly favoured Amanda Serrano. And still Serrano couldn’t win on a single judge’s card. After two fights she was the winner on just one judge’s card. The interview with her coach post fight in the middle of the ring was hugely disrespectful to Katie Taylor. Yet Katie rose above all of that. She showed the quiet dignity and humility that is at the core of what makes her a magnificent champion.
@Richard Ford: Spot on Mate!