EuroHockey Championship II, Men Day 1 Match Reports
IRELAND 9 CZECH REPUBLIC 0
Ireland closed the first day of the European Hockey Championships II in Abbotstown with a simple mission at the start of play.
Win Pool A and be one of the two finalists and Ireland would secure a spot in a qualification tournament for next years Olympics due to take place in January in either Valencia in Spain or a venue in Pakistan.
Captain Sean Murray got things underway from open play with an opening goal in the 18th minute to make it 1-0 to Ireland.
Benjamin Walker made it 2-0 also from open play in the 24th minute. Sean Murray got his second field goal of the game to make it 3-0 in the 26th minute.
John McKee got his first of the game to make it 4-0 in the 41st minute and Lee Cole added a penalty corner goal in the 43rd minute to make it 5-0 .
Jeremy Duncan made it 6-0 a minute later from a penalty corner and further goals from Ben Johnson and Lee Cole penalty stroke in the 56th minute made it 8-0 and the rout was completed by John McKee grabbing his second of the game to seal a 9-0 victory.
IRELAND: David Harte ; John McKee, Kyle Marshall, Shane O’Donoghue, Sean Murray (C) , Peter McKibbin, Michael Robson, Benjamin Walker, Lee Cole, Conor Empey, Sam Hyland SUBS: Luke Witherow; Jeremy Duncan, Jonathan Lynch, Ben Johnson, Nicholas Page
CZECH REPUBLIC: Petr Vetrovsky; Lukas Klaban, Denis Tomes, Dominik Bystricky, Vojtech Kolar, Lukas Plochy, Adam Uhlír (C), Ondrej Soukup, Stepán Lalík, Martin Capouch, Ondrej Hes SUBS: Stepan Klaban, Vit Soukup, Josef Toms, Tomas Bransovsky, Patrik Dubina, Jakub Klaban, Vojtech Paztika (GK) h-t.
POOL A
UKRAINE 6 PORTUGAL 3
Andrii Koshelenko opened his account from a penalty corner on 6 minutes, which made it 1-0 to Ukraine. He got his second of the match from a penalty stroke on 14 minutes to make it 2-0.
Bohdan Kovalenko added a field goal in the 20th minute to make it 3-0. Portugal responded almost immediately through Vasco Ribeiro to make it 3-1.
Portugal were awarded a penalty stroke which José Santos converted on 23 minutes. Maksym Onofriiuk restored a two goal lead for Ukraine from open play in the 25th minute and it was 4-2 at half-time.
Andrii Koshelenko completed his hat-trick with another penalty stroke on 34 minutes to make it 5-2. Portugal responded through a David Franco penalty corner in the 41st minute to make it 5-3.
Andrii Koshelenko got his fourth goal of the day in the 48th minute from another penalty stroke to leave the final score Ukraine 6 Portugal 3.
POOL B
ITALY 4 TURKIYE 0
The tournament began with a Pool B game on Sunday morning between Italy and Turkiye. Italy took only 60 seconds to get the opening goal of the tournament on Sunday when Francois Sior scored from open play to give the Azzuri the lead. Juan Munafo increased their lead on 29 minutes to make it 2-0 at half time. Felix Dionisi Vici weighed in with another goal from open play in the 44th minute to make it 3-0 and four minutes from the end Manuel Mondo converted a penalty corner to leave the final score 4-0 to Italy.
SCOTLAND 3 SWITZERLAND 0
The second game of the Pool B of European Hockey Championships II in Abbotstown saw Scotland take on Switzerland.
Johnny Coren’s charges took the lead from open play through a goal from Keir Robb in the 22nd minute. Jamie Golden increased their lead on the stroke of half time. The Scots led 2-0 at the break.
Struan Walker’s 36th minute penalty corner sealed a 3-0 win.
