Republic of Ireland The Republic of Ireland , usually simply referred to as Ireland , is a country of northwestern Europe , bordered to the north by Northern Ireland and to the east , across the Irish Sea , by the main land of Great Britain . It is home to 4 , 460 , 000 people . Organisation . Ice hockey in Ireland is not very deep in term of divisions . For the moment , the IIHL stands as the top level , fed by a Development Division . There is no promotion and relegation between the two leagues . History of Irish hockey . Ice hockey in Ireland is a relatively recent thing . The first recorded match dates back only to 1983 , where the Dublin Stags defeated the Liverpool Leopards 3 - 2 ; the match was played at the Dolphins Barn Ice Rink . Since then , the sport has progressed , until the country was accepted into the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1997 . The Irish National Team made its debuts at the U18 and U20 level . Locally , the sport kept developing , with the cities of Dublin , Belfast and Coleraine being a place where the sport was played at a high level , until came a slump in 1999 - 2000 , when both ice rinks in Dublin closed down , seriously compromising the development of the sport , especially the junior development . Players had to go once a week to Belfast to have a chance to train . This situation was short lived however , as the Dublin City Council , with the help of the Irish Ice Hockey Association , ran an outdoor rink during the festive season . 2004 was an important year for Irish hockey , as for the first time , the IIHA iced a senior national team at the 2004 DIII World Championship s , held in Reykjavik , Iceland . Since then , Ireland regularly iced a senior team , which kept improving . In 2007 , the World Championship Division III were held in Dundalk , Ireland at the Dundalk Ice Dome . The event proved to be a real success , and in the wake of this success , the Irish Ice Hockey League was created for the 2007 - 08 season . Several Irish players ( six in total ) have played in the National Hockey League . Those players , born in Ireland ( or in Northern Ireland ) , have however all moved to North America at a young age and learned their hockey there . They are Bobby Kirk , Jim McFadden , Sammy McManus , Sid Finney , Owen Nolan and Jack Riley ( b . 1910 ) . Of them , Nolan is by far the most prominent player born in Ireland . International . Ever since the Irish National Team was created in 2004 , the team kept steadily improving . Even at its very beginnings , the team didn ' t fare too badly . While they struggled to beat anyone ( except the Armenian National Team , whom they beat by large margins in their first two seasons ) , they nevertheless provided with a decent opposition and the team rarely got thrashed as is not so rarely the case in the lower levels of the World Championship s - in fact , in their first tournament , they finished with an even 23 - 23 goals for - goals against ratio , while in their second , they had a positive ratio with 32 goals for and 20 against ( thanks in good part to a 23 - 1 win over Armenia ) . The team ' s efforts were crowned in 2007 when Ireland was promoted to the division II following a solid second place at the 2007 DIII World Championship held at home , in Dundalk , Ireland , at the Dundalk Ice Dome . Their performance at the 2008 DII World Championship was not as good , with Ireland losing all six games and finishing with only 8 goals for and 57 against , a performance that promptly sent them back to the third division . Still , Ireland had demonstrated it was a promising nation . The Irish U18 team also participates in the world championships . References . [ [ Category : Hockey Countries ] ] [ [ Category : Ice hockey in Ireland ] ] [ [ Category : Countries ] ]