Ireland's hockey team will play Canada in their Olympic qualifying match on a pop-up pitch at Leinster Rugby's home ground. 

The synthetic pitch will be built on top of the rugby pitch with the winners of the match securing a place at the Tokyo 2020 games.

Hockey Ireland's chief executive said: "This is a massive step for the sport in Ireland to play hockey in a venue of this size." The capacity of the ground, which is also the home of Ireland women's Six Nations, is 6,000.

"A lot of time and research has been dedicated to establishing whether the event could take place here.

"Similar to England Hockey's successful use of an overlay carpet for their FIH Pro League match at The Stoop in London earlier this year, we're excited to bring this unique experience to Ireland."

Hockey is becoming a popular sport in Ireland following the team's silver medal at last year's World Cup.

Ireland are currently eighth in the world rankings with Canada sitting in 15th.

Ireland and Canada will play in a double header on November 2 - 3. The push is at 6pm and will be broadcast on RTE.