After dramatic improvements in the Indoor program in 2011 with wins over Australia, Slovakia, and Club team Pardubice, Ireland Lacrosse has announced the appointment of Head Coach Jeff Dowling through 2015 to aid in the development of the Irish National Indoor lacrosse team.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to lead this team again. This will give our coaching staff a lot more time to develop high level players in Ireland that will help us take the next steps in 2015”, said Coach Dowling when it was confirmed by National Team Director John Cavanaugh earlier this month.
Ireland’s Indoor Lacrosse Development Officer, Sean Gibson, went on to say, “Having a guy of Jeff’s calibre in place for the long term, will be a tremendous help with the ongoing development of Indoor Lacrosse here in Ireland and is a tremendous asset to the program as a whole. We should see some dramatic results over the next four years.”
When looking forward to 2015, Coach Dowling had this to say, “I’m looking forward to building on our first ever win at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships. We had a great group of men that answered the bell for Ireland Lacrosse. I expect a lot of these players will represent Ireland in 2015 and I am confident that the level of play will be much higher and that we will not sacrifice our great team unity to achieve this.”
Coach Dowling hopes to continue with the same coaching staff that joined him in Prague in 2011. Dan Leidl ran the defence for the team and also had to suit up for a few games because of injuries. Tom Howe (Offensive coach) and Geoff Conn (Video Coach) rounded out the staff. “I have had some discussions with the coaching staff and we are all on the same page and want to develop the sport in Ireland. I expect that all 3 will be back on the bench with me in 2015 and more importantly we all plan on making trips to Ireland over the next 3 years as part of the development program,” said Coach Dowling when asked about the assistant coaches.
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