Rachel and Hannah Kelly are twins from Kilkenny, and are the only two girls representing the South East Region on the Irish U18 Hockey Team. They were members of the Irish Squad at U16 Level and are delighted to have progressed to U18 Level through hard work and commitment. They’re both members of Old Alex Hockey Club in Dublin and travel to train at least once if not twice a week, spending their weekends playing matches. We’re absolutely delighted to support them on this exciting journey! Hear what the girls had to say below.
“All Irish Hockey Underage programmes are self-funded and Taxback Group have generously donated to our great cause. The programme looks to develop younger players through coaching and international playing experience and all funds raised go towards coaching, playing kit and matches. Recently, we have played a two match series in England and we have just come back from a three match series versus the Ulster U21s last weekend. Scoring 3 goals each, we helped the team to three wins from three and enjoyed the trip immensely. Now it’s back to training with upcoming trips to Belgium and Scotland before our main competition in July, the 6 Nations Tournament in Holland.
Hockey is a huge passion of ours and we love all the different aspects of it! We travel to Dublin for weekly training sessions for our club and all weekends going forward until July will be Irish Training camps in Dublin and Belfast. This would not be possible without the kind generousity of companies like Taxback Group and we appreciate the great opportunity they have given us by contributing not only to us local hockey players but to the wider community here in Kilkenny aswell. It’s fantastic to have such a high calibre company here on our doorstep.” – Hannah and Rachel Kelly.