Celtic Cup a tester for young Scots

SCOTLAND’S Under-21 men’s hockey side face their first real test when they challenge Wales and Ireland in the Celtic Cup this weekend.

Coach Graham Moodie is excited by the prospect as he is keen to know how far the squad has come since the Great Britain Superleague in April.

Scotland play Ireland on Saturday (1pm) and Wales on Sunday (noon) and Edinburgh-based Moodie plans to officially name the squad in mid-week.

The international tests come after three straight weekends of squad training in Glasgow and mid-week sessions in both Glasgow and Edinburgh.

And Moodie is preparing his men for the EuroHockey Junior Championships in the Netherlands in August when the young Scots face the might of Germany, Spain and Belgium.

Moodie said: “We played Wales in the Superleague and they beat us 3-0 and 4-1. I used that to see a number of players but we’ve cut the squad down since then so it will be really interesting to see how the players have come on.

“The Irish side will also provide tough competition.”