EuroHockey Championship II Men – Day 3 roundup
Day 3
IRELAND 7 UKRAINE 0
The second game of the day in Pool A saw hosts Ireland take on Ukraine. The Irish team were wearing black armbands and observed a minute’s silence ahead of the game to mark the tragic loss of Aoife Frances Langan, loving long term partner of Luke Madeley.
Ireland got off to a good start and finally took the lead in the second quarter when Shane O’Donoghue converted a penalty corner in the 23rd minute. They increased their lead in the 30th minute when Lee Cole converted another penalty corner to leave Ireland leading 2-0 at the break.
Early in the third quarter Shane O’Donoghue got his second goal of the game converting another penalty corner in the 34th minute to put Ireland 3-0 ahead. Ten minutes later Ireland were awarded a penalty stroke which Lee Cole converted to put Ireland 4-0 ahead. Twelve minutes later Ireland were awarded a second penalty stroke which Lee Cole also converted getting his second goal of the night to put Ireland 5-0 up. Two minutes from time Conor Empey converted a penalty corner to make it 6-0 to Ireland and Benjamin Walker scored from open play to seal a 7-0 win.
Commenting after the game coach Mark Tumilty said:
“I was pleased with the way we converted from set pieces but our conversion rate from open play needs work. There’s a lot more work to be done to achieve our goal of reaching the final of this tournament to secure that potential Olympic qualification tournament in January , starting with tomorrow’s match against Portugal”.
Given the other results in the Pool so far a point against Portugal would be enough to secure top spot in Pool A and a semi-final berth in the European Championship II, Men in The Sports Ireland Campus.
Having scored 16 goals in two outings Ireland should be confident of securing a spot in the semi-final.
IRELAND: David Harte (GK), Charlie Rowe, Luke Witherow, John McKee, Kyle Marshall, Shane O’Donoghue, Sean Murray (Capt.), Jeremy Duncan, Lee Cole, Ben Hyland
SUBS: Peter McKibbin, Benjamin Walker, Jonathan Lynch, Conor Empey Nicholas Page,
NOT USED: James Milliken (GK)
UKRAINE: Bohdan Tovstolytkin (GK), Viacheslav Paziuk, Dmytro Luppo (C), Mykhailo Yasinskyi, Volodymyr Kaplisnkyi, Vitalii Shevchuk, Maksym Onofriiuk, Bohdan Kovalenko, Volodomyr Zhmereniuk, Andrii Koshelenko, Volodomyr Kostechko
SUBS: Roman Bludov(GK) , Iurii Moroz, Oleksii Popov, Oleskandr Boiko, Oleksandr Yasinskyi , Oleksandr Diachenko.
DAY 2
POOL A
CZECH REPUBLIC 4 PORTUGAL 3
Both of the teams involved in the days opening game had lost in their first outings. Portugal had been involved in a 9 goal thriller losing 6-3 to Ukraine. The Czechs also were involved in a 9 goal game but this was a more chastening experience on the receiving end of a 9-0 beating from Ireland. Someone’s losing streak had to end. The Portuguese got off to a good start and took the lead from open play in 5 minutes when Rodrigo Castro scored. They led 1-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The Czechs responded in the second quarter when Ondrej Hes equalised from a penalty corner in the 17th minute to make it 1-1. It remained that score until half time.
Early in the third quarter the Czechs took the lead when Jakub Klaban scored from open play in the 37th minute. Rodrigo Castro’s penalty corner, but he was credited with it was deflected past goalkeeper Petr Vetrovsky to make it 2-2 and give Portugal an equaliser on 39 minutes.
The Czechs restored their lead almost immediately when Lukas Plochy scored on 41 minutes from open play to get his 42nd international goal for his country. He has now scored more goals for his country than the rest of his team mates combined. The score now stood at 3-2 to the Czechs and it remained that way till the end of the third quarter.
Portugal equalised from a penalty corner in the 48th minute when Tiago Ventosa converted to make it 3-3. Lukas Plokhy engineered the lead goal for the Czechs with two minutes remaining. His cross was deflected to the net and he was credited with scoring his 43rd international goal. And it remained 4-3 at full time.
