Ireland Men to take on Scotland in two match series.

The Green Machine travel to Glasgow for a two match series against Scotland this weekend, with matches scheduled for 3pm Saturday and 12pm Sunday.

The squad is as follows:

  • Mark Ingram
  • David Fitzgerald
  • Jonathan Bell
  • John Jackson
  • Lee Cole
  • Paul Gleghorne
  • Matt Bell
  • Peter McKibbin
  • Stuart Loughrey
  • Tim Cross
  • Shane O’Donoghue
  • Stephen Cole
  • Daragh Walsh
  • Kirk Shimmins
  • Sean Murray
  • Michael Robson
  • Matthew Nelson
  • Ben Walker
  • Jeremy Duncan
  • Johnny McKee

The Men’s squad will then prepare for an invitational four nations in Barcelona from the 1st to the 4th of August where they will play England, Malaysia and Spain, as part of their preparations for the 2019 EuroHockey Championships which get underway from the 16th to 25th of August in Wilrijkse Plein, Antwerp. You can find more information on the tournament at //www.belfiuseurohockey.com/en/

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Ireland runners up to France in FIH Series Finals

Ireland runners-up to France in FIH Series Finals but Olympic Qualifier Secured.

Ireland 1 (S Murray), France 3 (V Charlet 2, B Rogeau)

Having secured their Olympic qualifier spot yesterday with a 4-2 win over Korea, the Irish Men were runners-up today to host nation France.

In hot and humid conditions, it was Ben Walker and Sean Murray with one of the opening opportunities for Ireland in the first quarter. With a save by Thieffry, France were the first to make their mark on the scoreboard with a goal from Blaise Rogeau. It wasn’t long before Murray had another attempt, this time hitting the post. However, Ben Walker had him set up again moments later to give Ireland the equaliser.

France took the lead in the second quarter with Victor Charlet putting the ball in the goal after a scramble from a French penalty corner. Ben Walker and Michael Robson both made their presence clearly felt in this quarter while Ireland looked to continue with good energy and pace ahead of half time.

Victor Charlet put a second goal away for France in the third quarter, also from a penalty corner, to give the hosts a two-goal lead. Although the quarter ended Ireland 1-3 France, the final seconds were marked by a great chance for France with a save from David Harte rebounding, Paul Gleghorne stretching across the line on his knees to keep the ball out of the goal and Lee Cole ensuring it was pushed out of harm’s way before the whistle blew.

Ireland seemed to gain momentum again in the close quarter. A penalty corner in the final two minutes presented an opportunity, however Shane O’Donoghue, receiving it from Ben Walker, sent it slightly wide of the posts and France took the victory by two goals.

In the individual tournament awards, Shane O’Donoghue was presented with the award for top goal-scorer of the tournament, shared with France’s Victor Charlet.

Speaking on the match, Head Coach Alexander Cox said, “I’m not happy. We simply played a bad game from the start and couldn’t turn it around. We made way too many mistakes on the ball and our decisions were not quick enough.

We trailed the game from the start and couldn’t change it. This was one of those games where it simply wasn’t good enough. Overall I’m disappointed with this performance.”

However, with an Autumn Olympic qualifier now secure, the focus moves towards European’s in August where Ireland will face a tough Pool challenge against Germany, the Netherlands and Scotland.

Ireland: D Harte, J Jackson, J Bell, E Magee, S O’Donoghue, S Murray, B Walker, D Walsh, P Gleghorne, L Cole, S Cole

Subs: J Carr, M Bell, L Madeley, M Nelson, M Robson, N Glassey, C Harte.

France: A Thieffry, P van Straaten, T Genestet, H Genestet, S Martin Brisac, V Lockwood, C Masson, A Bellenger, G Baumgarten, F Goyet, V Charlet

Subs: B Rogeau, N Dumont, JB Forgues, E Tynevez, T Ponthieu, M Branicki, C Saunier.

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Ireland Men Secure Olympic Qualifier with 4-2 win over Korea

Ireland Men Secure Olympic Qualifier in the Autumn with 4-2 win over Korea in Le Touquet.

Ireland 4 (M Nelson, E Magee, S O’Donoghue, N Glassey) Korea 2 (B Jeon, S Lee).

The opening quarter of the match saw few chances for either team, with little separating the sides in the heat. Byungjin Jeon put Korea on the scoreboard in the 25th minute from a penalty corner, giving them the lead. However, a touch from Sean Murray provided just enough of an opportunity for Matthew Nelson to tap the ball into the goal ahead of half-time.

The Green Machine seemed to come back to the pitch with a renewed energy putting another two goals away in quick succession, making it three goals from three minutes of game time. A clear increase in Ireland’s control of the game saw Daragh Walsh supply a lovely pass to Ben Walker who then managed to feed the ball perfectly to Eugene Magee to send it home and put Ireland in the lead. Eugene Magee was on hand again shortly afterwards to provide Shane O’Donoghue the opportunity to further extend his international goal scoring record making the score 3-1 in Ireland’s favour. However, a penalty corner goal by Seungil Lee saw Korea close the gap slightly before the end of the third quarter.

The final quarter held a few missed opportunities for Ireland, with shots from both John Jackson and Shane O’Donoghue going wide of the goal. Tensions rose in the final five minutes of play when earlier Korean goal scorer Byungjin Jeon ran down the left of the pitch towards the Irish circle. Paul Gleghorne’s defence resulted in him receiving a yellow card and Korea being awarded a penalty corner. Failing to convert the penalty corner to a goal, Korea removed goalkeeper Jaehyeon Kim shortly afterwards making it 11 outfield players against 9. Ireland played strong defensively in the closing minutes of the game managing to move the ball back up the pitch in the final 30seconds of play. Neal Glassey had a short almost unchallenged run to put the ball into an empty Korean goal with the majority of Korean players remaining in the Irish half of the pitch, making the full-time score 4-2 to Ireland.

Speaking about the match, Head Coach Alexander Cox said, “I’m massively proud of the work ethic of the team, especially the way we managed to grind out a win today.

I also saw some very good hockey in stages, particularly in the third quarter, with three goals in three minutes of play giving us a good lead.

This is a massive step for us securing the qualifier in the Autumn. This was our aim coming here and we’ve achieved it against a tough and strong Korea. Now we wait to see who we will face in the final tomorrow evening.”

Ireland will play either Scotland or France in the final tomorrow evening at 17:00 Irish time.

Ireland: D Harte, J Jackson, J Bell, E Magee, S O’Donoghue, S Murray, B walker, D Walsh, C Harte, L Cole, S Cole
Subs: M Bell, L Madeley, N Glassey, M Robson, P Gleghorne

Korea: J Kim, N Lee, S Cho, S Lee, T Hwang, J Lee, M Jung, E Hong, S Lee, J Jang, K Kim,

Subs: W C Ji, G Kim, S Kim, H Kim, J H Kim, J Yang, B Jeon

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Irish Men beat Singapore 11-0 to secure a Semi-final on Saturday

Ireland 11 (S O’Donoghue 3, C Harte 2, S Cole 2, L Cole, M Nelson, L Madeley, B Walker) Singapore 0.

After a disappointing meeting with Egypt on Sunday the Irish Men’s squad picked themselves up to defeat Singapore 11-0. 26-year-old Shane O’Donoghue, Ireland’s all-time leading goal scorer, not only provided a hat-trick for himself by the third quarter but also surpassed the 100 international goal mark, making him the first Irish Hockey player to do so, as Ireland top Pool A and secure a semi-final spot for Saturday.

Shane O’Donoghue put Ireland on the scoreboard within the opening minute of the game from a penalty corner. The Irish Men dominated possession in the opening quarter with goals from Conor Harte and Matthew Nelson making it 3-0 to Ireland before the first quarter whistle blew.

The goals kept coming in quarter 2 with Magee and Walker passing around the Singapore circle to provide Stephen Cole the opportunity to finish. A backhand from Shane O’Donoghue gave youngster Ben Walker a chance to touch the ball into the goal to bring Ireland to a 5-0 lead.

Ireland continued to dominate possession throughout the match against a noticeably weaker Singapore, with another five goals in the 3rd quarter. O’Donoghue secured a hat-trick for himself by the third quarter and reached 101 international goals for himself for Ireland. Both Stephen Cole and Conor Harte managed to put away their second goals of the match, while Luke Madeley also got a drag flick from a penalty corner behind Singapore’s Sandran bringing the third quarter to a close with a 10-0 lead to Ireland.

After a sweeping move up the field and several shots at the goal, the closing minute of the game saw Lee Cole make the final result Ireland 11-0 Singapore.

Speaking on the result, Head Coach Alexander Cox said, “We knew we needed to score at least four goals today to top the table. We scored 11 which is a good result.

After the big disappointment of losing to Egypt we needed to show ourselves that we are capable of reaching the qualifier play-offs for Tokyo. We did that today. We did so because we were focused from the start and stayed focused until the end.

Now we need to prepare ourselves for a big game coming up.”

Today’s result means the Irish men have topped their Pool and will move straight to the semi-final stage on Saturday, with their opponent to be decided on Thursday from the 2nd Pool B v 3rd Pool A cross-over match. Saturday’s match will be live streamed on the FIH website at: https://fih.live/view/event/48386

Ireland: D Harte, J Jackson, J Bell, E Magee, S O’Donoghue, S Murray, B walker, D Walsh, C Harte, L Cole, S Cole
Subs: M Bell, L Madeley, N Glassey, M Robson, P Gleghorne

Singapore: B Asali, E Marican, J Grewal, D Vijayan, S Noor, A Zul’kepli, F Johari, M Cheong, B Kahar, N Ng, G Sandran,

Subs: W X Wee, A Ibrahim, N Kumar, Z Zulkarnan, H Vijayan, N Teo, S Muhammad

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Irish Men defeated by Egypt in FIH Series Finals Pool Match.

Ireland 1 (J Jackson) Egypt 2 (M Adel, A Abd Elhakim)

After a solid performance against Scotland in their opening game, the Irish men had hoped to build on that performance against Egypt in their second match of the World Series Finals. The first quarter saw Ireland dominate possession with the stubborn Egyptian defence frustrating the Irish attack until the 13th minute when Ireland won their first penalty corner through Ben Walker. The resulting drag flick was saved, and the sides remained level at the end of Q1.

Egypt began the 2nd quarter brightly with some good attacking play but it was Ireland who took the lead after 19 minutes when Shane O’Donoghue’s reverse side shot was deflected in by John Jackson after Ireland’s second corner broke down. However, Egypt were back on level terms just 4 minutes later when Mohamed Adel beat the Irish penalty corner defence with a drag flick. Egypt forced another corner in the 27th minute which was saved leaving the sides level at half time 1-1.

Ireland began the 3rd quarter well and created a good chance in the 34th minute when Shane O’Donoghue’s reverse side cross was narrowly deflected wide. Both sides traded attacking opportunities and Egypt won a penalty corner 2 minutes before the end of the quarter which was saved by the David Harte leaving the score 1-1 with 15 minutes to go.

In the 48th minute, Egypt took the lead through Ahmed Abd Elkahim when a free outside the Irish circle was taken quickly and the Egyptian beat several Irish defenders to slip the ball past Harte.

Ireland increased the pressure on Egypt in the remaining 10 minutes in search of an -equaliser winning a penalty corner in the 51st minute. O’Donoghue’s flick was saved by Sayed in the Egyptian goal before the rebound was hit wide. Ireland had a further opportunity in the 56th minute with another penalty corner but the ball was not stopped properly and Egypt were able to defend the resulting shot.

After the game, Ireland head coach Alexander Cox commented “We didn’t show up in the first half and that can’t happen.

We improved in the second half and tried everything to break them. We had enough chances to score more than one, but we didn’t. Credit to Egypt.

We’re massively disappointed but we are still in the tournament.”

Ireland’s final pool game is on Tuesday at 14.45 when they take on Singapore. All matches are being streamed on the FIH website at: https://fih.live/view/event/48364

Ireland: D Harte, J Jackson, J Bell, E Magee, S O’Donoghue, S Murray, B walker, D Walsh, C Harte, L Cole, S Cole
Subs: J Carr, M Bell, L Madeley, N Glassey, M Robson, P Gleghorne

Egypt: M Sayed, M Edris, M Mansour, A Ibrahim, A Ezz, A Sayed, A Said, A Abd Elhakim, M Ragab, A Elganaini, M Adel

Subs: K Atef, A Gamal, A Mohsen, M Ragab, A Elhady, W Metwalli.

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Irish Women Runners-up to Korea in FIH Final in Banbridge.

Irish Women Runners-up to Korea in FIH Final in Banbridge, but Olympic qualifier in Autumn Secured. Ireland 1 – 3 Korea.

Ireland 1 (N Daly) Korea 3 (H Kim, E Cheon, J Kang)

A tight opening half had the two teams 0-0 at half time despite both sides having a few chances to score. A brilliant pass by Roisin Upton in the first quarter gave Chloe Watkins a shot at the Korean goal, but Korean goalkeeper Soo Ji Jang managed to get her foot to the ball preventing Ireland getting on the scoreboard. Yuri Lee from Korea also found a chance for herself at the opposite end of the pitch, although McFerran was on hand to keep the match nil all. The Green Army seemed to progress as the quarter advanced but the Korean defence remained strong throughout.

The second quarter saw a lovely chance for O’Flanagan, provided by a pass from Deirdre Duke, however Korea’s Jang saved it well. A Penalty Corner for Korea and Hyoju An managed to shoot for the goal but McFerran saved and sent it out wide. Brown provided an excellent pass to Upton who’s drag flick saw the ball in the back of the goal, however an obstruction caused the goal to be disallowed.

Shirley McCay and Zoe Wilson provided noticeable interceptions in the lead up to half time. While McFerran was more active throughout this match than any other over the tournament in Banbridge and her skills were put to good use.

Ireland really applied the pressure in the opening minutes of the third quarter but a robust defence by Korea kept them at bay. As the quarter progressed Korea seemed to up the tempo and Hannah Matthews and Roisin Upton became instrumental in Ireland’s play.

The final quarter provided goals from Hyunji Kim and Eunbi Cheon before Nicola Daly managed to get one over the line in a third attempt in an Ireland Penalty Corner. Although Ireland’s decision to pull the goalkeeper to increase their outfield numbers proved un-advantageous as Korea’s Kang managed to put the ball in an empty net to seal the win.

Despite the result the Irish Women’s Olympic qualification ambitions remain unscathed with the squad safely through to a direct qualifier in the Autumn.

Speaking on the match, Interim Head Coach Gareth Grundie said, “Overall we played well. I felt like we were the better side for the first three quarters. Korea started very well and were very strong in the final quarter. It wasn’t to be today.”

In terms of what’s to come and how he’s found his time as Head Coach, Gareth said “I’ve really enjoyed the last few months. We’ve made lots of progress and the girls have been great, as have the staff, so we’re in a good position moving forwards.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do in the coming months and working with Sean [Dancer]. We’ve Europeans and an Olympic qualifier to look forward to so the focus will now move to those.”

The FIH Series Finals individual player awards were awarded as follows:

  • Hero Top Scorer – Anna O’Flanagan (6 Goals), IRL, #26
  • Best Player – Anna O’Flanagan, IRL, #26
  • Best Junior Player – Yohanna Lhopital, FRA, #8
  • Best Goalkeeper – Mathilde Petriaux, FRA, #31.

Ireland: A McFerran, R Upton, K Mullan, S McCay, B Barr, C Watkins, L Colvin, N Daly, H Matthews, A O’Flanagan, Z Wilson

Subs: C Brown, L Tice, G Pinder, S Hawkshaw, D Duke, A Meeke, E Buckley.

Korea: S J Jang, Y Lee, H An, E Cheon, J Kang, E Cho, Y Lee, H Jang, H Cho, H Shin, S Lee

Subs: J Seo, S J Choi, S Kim, E Yu, H Kim, S Kang, Y Choi.

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Strong start for Ireland’s Men with 4-2 win over Scotland

Ireland 4 (E Magee 2, S O’Donoghue, M Robson) Scotland 2 (D Riddell, K Bain)

Ireland’s men got their FIH World Series Final tournament in Le-Touquet-Paris-Plage off to a strong start with a solid performance against Scotland this morning.

Eugene Magee opened the scoring in the 2nd minute with a neatly taken reverse shot with Ireland dominating possession in the opening stages of the game. Scotland managed to equalise through Duncan Riddell in the 7th minute after their first penalty corner broke down and the ball was scrambled into David Harte’s goal.

Ireland continued to dominate possession during the first quarter and the pressure paid off when with just 2 minutes to go, Shane O’Donoghue scored from a penalty corner making it 2-1 to Ireland at the break.

Despite some good pressure from Ireland during the 2nd quarter, they were unable to extend their lead before half time despite winning 2 penalty corners in quick succession before the hooter.

Ireland began the 3rd quarter brightly and Magee extended the lead, shooting low into the bottom corner in the 35th minute. Just a minute later Scotland won a corner which was converted by Kenny Bain to make it 3-2. Michael Robson’s well taken upright reverse shot in the 40th minute restored Ireland’s 2 goal advantage before the end of the 3rd quarter.

Neither side managed to add to the goal tally in the 4th quarter and it finished 4-2 to Ireland.

Speaking on the result, Head Coach Alexander Cox said, “I am happy with the result and the way we played today. A first game at a tournament is always a difficult one and we handled that well.

We have clear objectives on and off the ball which we wanted to see today. I saw some great counter-attack chances. Out 1-0 was one of them.

I’m also happy with the individual performances, which makes a team. There are still points to improve, especially in our defensive structure, but overall a very good start against a well organised and good Scottish side.

The next battle is now our focus, Egypt tomorrow.”

Ireland take on Egypt in their 2nd match of the tournament tomorrow (16th June) at 12:30 Irish time as they continue their journey on the Road to Tokyo.

Ireland: D Harte, J Jackson, J Bell, E Magee, S O’Donoghue, S Murray, B walker, D Walsh, C Harte, L Cole, S Cole
Subs: M Bell, L Madeley, N Glassey, M Robson, P Gleghorne

Scotland: T Alexander, M Bremner, A Bull, R Anderson, R Harwood, K Bain, C Falconer, A McQuade, N Parkes, D Riddell, C MacKenzie
Subs: C Duke, C Golden, G Byers, R Shepherdson, E Greaves, M Collins, D Forrester

Matches are being streamed live on the FIH website: https://fih.live/view/event/48364

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Irish Women to play Korea in Final tomorrow in Havelock Park

Irish Women defeat Czech Republic 4-0 to enter the final of the FIH Series Final in Havelock Park this afternoon. This result has earned them an Olympic qualifier place for October/November later this year.

A drenched pitch meant a slower pace in the opening quarter. The Czech’s started strongly, with 2 penalty corners in the first quarter: foiled once by pitch conditions, which helped Katie Mullan bring the ball back up the pitch, while the second was saved by McFerran, with Hannah Matthews on hand to take the re-bound back out of the Irish circle.

The first chance of the opening quarter came from O’Flanagan, after being set up nicely by Deirdre Duke, however the shot went wide. Duke was back again shortly with the last chance of the quarter, although Czech goalkeeper Cechakova prevented her from putting Ireland on the scoreboard.

The second quarter saw Ireland take the lead. A penalty corner, inserted by Hannah Matthews, provided the opportunity for Shirley McCay sweep it past Czech defence and Cechakova to put Ireland on the scoreboard. Zoe Wilson added to the lead shortly afterwards from another penalty corner. The shot looked wide but hit the post and bounced in to see Ireland 2-0 up. Ireland seemed to come into their own again in the second quarter with far more attacking, threatening the Czech Republic a lot more throughout.

Ireland remained dominant in quarter three, carrying the majority of possession. Upton, Tice, McCay, Barr all playing well throughout to bring ball up to threaten but the Czech defence was much stronger in this quarter. Despite no additions to the scoreboard, Ireland seemed comfortably in control. A short venture into the Irish circle was quickly countered by Chloe Brown who joined the squad this morning as Megan Frazer unfortunately had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury.

Sarah Hawkshaw takes a shot but Cechakova saves it. Ireland were back attacking almost immediately with Shirley McCay retrieving the ball on the line and passing nicely to Sarah Hawkshaw to bring the lead to three goals. Anna O’Flanagan brought it home in the final minute with the fourth and final goal of the match.

Speaking on the match, Interim Head Coach Gareth Grundie said, “I’m very pleased with that performance, it was controlled and disciplined.

We played good, attacking hockey and their keeper had a few good saves.

We’re looking forward to recovering and preparing to go again tomorrow.”

Ireland: A McFerran, K Mullan, L Tice, G Pinder, B Barr, L Colvin, H Matthews, A O’Flanagan, Z Wilson, D Duke, A Meeke

Subs: R Upton, C Brown, S McCay, C Watkins, N Daly, S Hawkshaw, E Buckley

Czech Republic: B Cechakova, K Lacina, J Reichlova, A Koziskova, T Mejzlikova, V Novakova, A Lehovcova, A Kolarova, V Decsyova, A Vorlova, N Novakova

Subs: T Holubcova, N Hajkova, K Jelinkova, R Capouchova, N Babicka, M Hlavata, B Brizova

Korea beat Malaysia 3-0 in the second semi-final of the day claiming their spot in the final tomorrow against the Green Army. The final will take place at 15:30 in Havelock Park, Banbridge.

Gareth Grundie had this to say regarding the Korean squad for tomorrow’s final, “We’ve done a fair bit of work on them ahead of the tournament. We’re looking forward to a good competitive game Now that top two is assured we can relax and play our style of hockey”.

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Irish Women dominate play in Havelock Park to secure Semi-final

Through to Saturday’s semi-final, an 11-0 win saw the Irish Women dominate play for the entire game with Singapore rarely managing to bring play down into the Irish half of the pitch. The majority of the game comprised of free moving, attacking hockey from the host nation, keeping Singapore under pressure throughout.

The first chance of the game came from Roisin Upton with a drag flick that went wide. However, Megan Frazer put Ireland on the score board shortly after, with an Upton pass to O’Flanagan setting her up nicely to get the goals rolling. The next goal came from Katie Mullan as little as 2 minutes later. Gillian Pinder was next to add to the goals 2 minutes later again stealing the ball from the Singapore defence and knocking it with a reverse stick. Ireland ended the first quarter with a 3-0 lead having held the majority of possession.

Roisin Upton got her next chance from a PC. Inserted by Watkins and deflected by O’Flanagan, Upton managed to slot the ball in passed the Singapore’s Felissa Lai. Less than a minute later a similar play from Watkins and O’Flanagan allowed Lena Tice to slap one into the back of the net making it 5-0 to Ireland.

Sarah Hawkshaw wasn’t long making it 6-0 with a nice deflection in the circle, before Upton came back to claim her second goal of the game, also from a PC, with an expertly executed drag flick from an O’Flanagan deflection. The half-time whistle blew with a 7-0 lead to the Green Army.

A lovely interception from Zoe Wilson in the third quarter led to a chance for Ali Meeke in the circle, although this ended slightly wide. While Ireland remained the dominant team and seemed comfortably in control, a number of lost opportunities were evident as Ireland failed to add to their goal tally in this period. However, Megan Frazer was on fire in Midfield running circles around Singapore giving the 800 or so school children in attendance a real show of skills for them to savour.

A Wilson shot in the final quarter was defended by Goalkeeper Felissa Lai, but Hannah Matthews was on hand to secure the rebound to get the goals going again for the final quarter. Shirley McCay provided a lovely deflection giving lead tournament goal-scorer Anna O’Flanagan the chance to slot one into the net. McCay took her 281st cap today, making her the most capped Irish player, male or female, in any sport. A position she previously held, she takes the title back from Eugene Magee of the Men’s team.

Katie Mullan gave the home crowd an impressive strike with the power and precision to bury the ball in the bottom corner of the goal, putting Ireland’s goal count into double digits. While Zoe Wilson provided an 11th goal while the crowd was on the countdown from 3.

Speaking on the match, Interim Head Coach Gareth Grundie said “I’m pleased with the way we approached the game today.

We started again with real attacking intent, creating plenty of chances and scored a few nice goals.

We’re delighted to top the group and go through to the semi-finals on Saturday.”

Thursday’s matches will see Malaysia who were 2nd in Pool A take on France who were 3rd in Pool B. While Scotland who were 2nd in Pool B will take on the Czech Republic.

Saturday 15th of June will see Singapore play Ukraine for 7th and 8th position. Safely topping Pool A Ireland will play in the first semi-final of the day, which will get underway at 13:15, taking on the winner of Scotland v Czech Republic. Korea will then play the winner of Malaysia v France in the second semi-final later that afternoon.

Ireland: A McFerran, R Upton, S McCay, M Frazer, E Tice, G Pinder, B Barr, C Watkins, S Hawkshaw, Z Wilson, D Duke

Subs: E Buckley, K Mullan,L Colvin, N Daly, H Matthews, A O’Flanagan, A Meeke.

Singapore: P Maligaya, N A Abdull, I Chan, P Ho, N S Saban, H Johana, L M Toh, L Tan, F Lai, R Sanip, G Leck

Subs: Y T Liu, J NG, X Chua, S Wong, C Chia, S NG, M Francis

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Two wins from Two for Irish Women Hockey with 8-1 win over Czech

Two wins from two for Ireland in the FIH Series Finals at Havelock Park as O’Flanagan puts away four goals and Daly does a double. Added to a goal each for Sarah Hawkshaw and Zoe Wilson the Irish Women’s squad were in constant control in a dominating performance of the Czech Republic.

The first chance of the game came from Captain Katie Mullan, but was well saved by Czech Goalkeeper Barbora Cechakova. However, it wasn’t long before Ireland were back in the Czech circle. Mullan managed to deflect off a Czech stick for Nikki Daly to touch the ball into finish to put Ireland in front for an early lead.

A few challenges from the Czech squad occurred in the opening quarter but Ireland remained comfortably in control. Ali Meeke played well to keep the ball out of the Irish circle, passing to Anna O’Flanagan who moved the ball back up into the Czech half.

The first penalty corner of the game went to Ireland, but the Czech defence prevented a goal. Watkins and Colvin played nicely in the middle and helped bring about another chance for Katie Mullan, although this didn’t result in any additions to the scoreboard.

Chloe Watkins won possession on the right wing and feeding the ball to Anna O’Flanagan allowed O’Flanagan to put her first goal of the match away to finish out the first quarter.

The second quarter got off to a similar start in that Ireland held the majority of possession and kept the Czech Republic under constant pressure. Upton and Hawkshaw were strong up the right-hand side to bring the ball back to challenge. Strong defending by the Green Army kept the Czech out of the Irish circle for much of the quarter. Ireland showed impressive ability to switch between three and four at the back as required to counter any Czech attacks. Half-time remained 2-0 with some deserved opportunities for Ireland going wide of the post.

Cechakova managed to save the first Frazer to O’Flanagan attempt but Frazer managed a reverse to O’Flanagan shortly afterwards which Cechakova couldn’t prevent crossing the line. Ireland were straight back to applying pressure with Chloe Watkins an obvious force to contend with in midfield. The next goal of the quarter came when Zoe Wilson managed to get the rebound from Shirley McCay’s free hit which saw the ball dribble past the Czech goalie.

Ireland continued to dominate the game in the final quarter and extended their lead with two goals from penalty corners. Matthews into the circle, Tice with a slap and a goal from Hawkshaw with the deflection for the first. Matthews into the circle again for the second, this time to Watkins, with O’Flanagan for the hat-trick. She went on to secure a fourth goal shortly after with a nice play by Gillian Pinder giving her the opportunity to drive it past Cechakova into the net.

Ireland conceded a late consolation goal from Jindriska Leichova. With McFerran saving the first attempt by Adela Lehovcova, Leichova was able to secure a goal on the rebound. However, a Katie Mullan managed to turn the ball back into the Czech circle giving Nikki Daly the opportunity to get give Ireland back their 7 goal advantage.

Speaking on the match, Interim Head Coach Gareth Grundie said “We showed real intent today and it was good to be rewarded with some great finishing and corner execution.

I was pleased with our overall energy throughout but know this is a stepping stone and our feet are firmly grounded. Our focus remains on the task ahead starting on Tuesday.”

Ireland: A McFerran, R Upton, K Mullan, E Tice, G Pinder, B Barr, L Colvin, A O’Flanagan, Z Wilson, D Duke, A Meeke

Subs: E Buckley, S Hawkshaw, S McCay, M Frazer, C Watkins, N Daly, H Matthews

Czech Republic: B Cechakova, K Lacina, J Reichlova, N Hajkova, A Koziskova, T Mejzlikova, V Novakova, A Lehovcova, A Kolarova, V Decsyova, A Vorlova,

Subs: L Duchkova, K Jelinkova, R Capouchova, B Brizova, N Babicka, M Hlavata, N Novakova

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