Archive for category: International

As an historic year draws to a close the Green Army have been nominated in several categories at the Irish Independent Sportstar Awards. They are nominated for Team of the Year, Magic Moment of the Year and Ayeisha McFerran is nominated for Sportstar of the Year. It’s simple to vote and there’s loads of prizes up for grabs, just click here to vote!

Odisha World Cup, Bhubaneswar

Ireland 1(O’Donoghue)

Australia 2 (Govers, Brand)

Ireland’s opening World Cup fixture against the world number 1 side Australia proved an entertaining affair throughout. Inside the opening minute Australia broke into the circle but the towering Conor Harte was on hand to intercept the effort in front of goal. Jonny Bell created Ireland’s first real chance as he charged out of defence and fired a reverse pass into the circle where both Sean Murray and Matthew Nelson saw their shots draw superb close range saves from Andrew Charter. In the 10thminute Australia were awarded a stroke as David Harte’s save hit Paul Gleghorne on the line but a smart video referral saw the decision overturned as the ball was going wide of the goal and Australia were awarded a penalty corner instead. Blake Govers put his side in the lead with a trademark drag flick in the 11thminute. But it didn’t take long for the Green Machine to reply, Murray glided through the middle of the pitch to slip the ball to Shane O’Donogue who batted home from chest height to draw the game level in superb fashion. Harte was in fine form throughout as he made a great low glove save from Dylan Wotherspoon’s close range shot. Likewise, Ireland were keeping Charter busy at the other end as O’Donoghue forced a high glove save from his penalty corner drag flick. Australia upped the ante as the clock ticked towards half time but Harte and his defence were alert to the danger and went into half time with 44% of the possession against the world number 1.

Australia came out of the blocks firing in the second half and Tim Brand put them in front in the 33rdminute. Corey Weyer sent a pin point pass to the waiting Brand on the edge of the circle, Harte saved the first shot but Brand remained composed to fire the rebound into the net. O’Donoghue was again testing the Australian defence as he broke through to set Alan Sothern up in front of goal but the ball just slipped under his stick for the chance to go amiss. There remained very little between the two sides and Paul Gleghorne was on hand as ever to make several important tackles if the Australian forward line broke through. With 2 minutes to go, Harte was pulled from his goal and Gleghorne donned the kicking back jersey as the Green Machine threw everything at the Aussies but just couldn’t snatch the equaliser.

Speaking after the fixture, head coach Alexander Cox said “Our players put their bodies on the line for the result today, we always knew this was going to be a physical game against the world number 1 team. It wasn’t the result we wanted but I’m very proud of the whole team, we gave it our all and were in the game until the final whistle.”

Ireland’s next match of the Odisha World Cup is on Tuesday (December 4th) at 7pm IST/1:30PM GMT.

Starting: D Harte (captain), J Bell, C Cargo, M Nelson, E Magee, S O’Donoghue, S Murray, M Darling, P Gleghorne, C Harte, S Loughrey

Subs: M Bell, A Sothern, K Shimmins, M Robson, D Fitzgerald, D Walsh, L Cole

Fixtures (all times listed are local)

Ireland’s Odisha World Cup Fixtures:

30/11/18 17:00 Ireland 1vs2 Australia

4/12/18 19:00 Ireland vs China

7/12/18 19:00 Ireland vs England

10/12/18 Crossover Match

12/12/18 Quarter Final

15/12/18 Semi Final

16/12/18 Bronze Medal Match

16/12/18 Final

Full Odisha World Cup schedule: http://fih.ch/events/world-cup/world-cup-2018/hockey-world-cup-bhubaneswar-2018-m//pools-matches

Ireland 1 (O’Donoghue)

Netherlands 7 (Pruijser x2, Hertzberger x2, van Ass, van der Weerden x2)

The hosts almost got the ideal start to the tie as they picked up a loose pass at the top of the circle and won a penalty corner inside the opening 2 minutes. But Mink van der Weerden saw his drag flick expertly saved by the glove of David Harte. The Green Machine countered immediately and won a penalty corner of their own but Shane O’Donoghue’s effort was blocked by the first runner. Harte was kept busy and lived up to his tag as one of the world’s best as he saved another drag flick from specialist Jeroen Hertzberger and a close-range effort from Mirco Pruijser. The opening goal came in the 15th minute when Pruijser found himself free on the back post to tap in a pass crossed in from the right. Ireland started the second quarter strong with both Eugene Magee and O’Donoghue drawing saves from Sam van der Wen while Alan Sothern saw his shot spin just past the post. The Irish defence remained composed throughout as the Netherlands countered at pace but were unable to add to their tally before the half time break.

3 goals for the Netherlands in the third quarter changed the shape of the game, with 2 of those coming within 2 minutes of each other. Hertzberger slotted home a powerful drag flick in the 37th minute to give the home team a bit of breathing space. But O’Donoghue got Ireland onto the scoresheet as he slapped home from close range following good link up play by Sean Murray and Mitch Darling. Seve van Ass re-established the 2-goal cushion for the Netherlands as he got on the end of Robert Kemperman’s reverse pass across goal. 2 minutes later Billy Bakker won his side their fourth penalty corner and Mink van der Weerden made it 4-1. Pruijser and van der Weerden doubled their respective tally’s inside a minute of each other to add a gloss to the game for the home fans. The Green Machine continued to challenge their hosts and Magee nearly got a last-minute goal as he evaded 3 defenders but couldn’t find a team mate in the circle. Hertzberger rounded out the scoring with an unstoppable goal as he fired home a reverse shot on the volley.

Starting: D Harte (Captain), J Bell, C Cargo, M Nelson, E Magee, S O’Donoghue, M Darling, M Robson, P Gleghorne, C Harte, S Loughrey

Subs: M Bell, A Sothern, K Shimmins, S Murray, D Fitzgerald, D Walsh, L Cole

Odisha World Cup Fixtures (all times listed are local)

30/11/18 17:00 Ireland vs Australia

4/12/18 19:00 Ireland vs China

7/12/18 19:00 Ireland vs England

10/12/18 Crossover Match

12/12/18 Quarter Final

15/12/18 Semi Final

16/12/18 Bronze Medal Match

16/12/18 Final

4 Nations Tournament Valencia

Ireland 2 (Walsh, Darling)

England 1(Taylor)

With 3 places separating the two sides sitting at 7thand 10thin the world this was always likely to be a close encounter. There was nothing to split the two in the opening exchanges and the first quarter saw few real chances at either end. The game came to life a bit more in the second quarter when David Harte was called into action for the first time so smother a pacey English attack. Moments later the Green Machine won their first penalty corner of the fixture but Shane O’Donoghue’s drag flick effort went just wide of George Pinner’s goal. Lee Cole picked up a green card in the 26thminute but the English couldn’t capitalise on their man advantage. Ireland won a penalty stroke in the dying moments of the first half but O’Donoghue’s shot went wide.

The deadlock was broken thanks to a powerful reverse strike from Daragh Walsh inside the opening 3 minutes of the second half. Both teams went down to 10 men with Stuart Loughrey and David Goodfield picking up green cards, but that didn’t stop Mitch Darling from doubling Ireland’s lead with a lovely goal set up by Eugene Magee. 3 penalty corners in quick succession saw England claw a goal back as Luke Taylor found the back of the net. But the men in red couldn’t find an equaliser as an experienced Green Machine side held off the world number 7 side to claim the 2-1 victory.

Starting: D Harte (Captain), J Bell, C Cargo, M Nelson, E Magee, S O’Donoghue, S Murray, M Darling, C Harte, L Cole, S Loughrey

Subs: L Madeley, A Sothern, K Shimmins, D Fitzgerald, D Walsh, J Duncan

4 Nations Tournament Valencia:

29/10 16:30 Ireland 2vs1 England

29/10 18:30 Spain vs Netherlands

30/10 16:30 Netherlands vs England

30/10 18:30 Spain – Ireland

01/11 16:30 Ireland – Netherlands

01/11 18:30 Spain – England

03/11 10:00 1st vs 4th

03/11 12:30 2nd vs 3rd

04/11 10:00 3rd vs 4th

04/11 12:30 Final

Ronan Gormley, an ever-present figure for the Green Machine, has today formally announced his retirement from international hockey. Ronan amassed 256 caps for Ireland with 121 of those coming as captain of Ireland. He became the first person in Irish hockey history to reach 250 caps, cementing his place as a stalwart of the game.

Ronan wished to pay tribute to all those who had an influence on his career, on and off the pitch “First and foremost my teammates – to some extent there is a lot of luck in sport and I was lucky to be playing during a time of immense talent in Irish hockey. Not only that, but those involved went above and beyond to do things no-one expected of them, and achieve things most said they couldn’t.

In an era of ever professionalising sport thank-you to the coaches who drove this agenda: David Passmore started the ball rolling by raising standards in the Irish Men’s hockey programme. Paul Revington arrived and changed the game. The most inspirational figure I have ever encountered, he took us all to another level in what we could do, what we thought we could do and what we expected of ourselves. And finally Craig Fulton, who came in at a time when the group was dispersed and lacked direction, and through his infectious energy and enthusiasm reinstalled in us the unconditional belief that took us historically to our first ever Olympic Games Qualification. Thanks also to all the staff who backed these men and gave so much of themselves to support our development. I look back with great pride on a rise from 23rd to a high of 9th in the world, a European Bronze medal, and an Olympic Games. Thanks to all who added to and shared the journey – great friends and special memories were made!

Thanks to my clubs – Pembroke, Club de Campo and Crefeld for the opportunity to build an international network of truly great people, and thanks to the Irish hockey community who simply never stopped supporting and backing their national teams.Thank you to the Hockey Ireland and all the sporting bodies who supported us during the years. We have battled for everything we have achieved, on and off the pitch.

Thank-you to mum, dad and two sisters who deserve special mention for their unconditional support of a kid and brother living in large part with only his interests and goals in mind!

Last but not least thanks to my own growing family – Javi, Tiago and Ayla – for the support to date and the fun in the years to come”.

Ronan remains an avid supporter as he concluded “A special congrats to the Irish Ladies for their heroic feat in the summer, and all the best to the Men in India – will very much enjoy from my vantage point on the sofa!”

All at Hockey Ireland thank Ronan for his service to the Green Machine over the last decade and a half, and wish him every success in the future.