Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/12/18
From Press Release and Staff Report
Ireland Lacrosse is proud to announce the selection of the 2018 Men’s National Lacrosse Team, which features goalie Conor Kelly (Haverford School, Notre Dame), defenseman Pat Smyth (Springfield-Delco, St. John’s), midfielder William McMenamin (St. Augustone Prep-NJ, Wagner) and face-off specialist Luke Palmadesso (Villanova). The team will represent Ireland at the Federation of International Lacrosse’s World Championships being held in Netanya, Israel in July.
The 23-man squad is comprised of seventeen veteran players, who have represented Ireland on the international stage in prior tournaments. They are joined by six newcomers to the program. Ireland will be competing in it’s 5th Men’s World Lacrosse Championship. Six players return from the 2014 National Team which placed 10th at the FIL World Championship in Denver, USA: Sonny Campbell, Aaron Cahill, Sean Gibson, Ryan Licht, Kevin Quinn and Martin Scanlon. Ryan Licht will be competing in his eight field tournament, coming in with 43 caps. Sean Gibson will represent Ireland in his 13th international tournament, far in the lead with 70 caps.
The 2018 Men’s National Team will be coached by Chris Arnold, assisted by Matt Curran, Jeremy Platt and Sean Bodie.
Kelly – who played for the Duke’s LC – was the 2011 Phillylacrosse.com Co-Player of the Year for an undefeated and National champion Haverford School squad. He led Notre Dame to the ACC championship in 2014 and was an All-ACC tournament choice.
Smyth – who played for the HEADstrong LC – was an All-Phillylacrosse.com and All-Central League Second Team selection in 2016 when he helped lead Springfield to the PIAA championship. He was an immediate starter at St. John’s as a freshman last spring and had 26 groundballs and 11 caused turnovers.
McMenamin finished his career ranked fourth all-time in Seahawk history in career groundballs (148) and had 43 goals.