EuroHockey Championship II Men, Day 4 Match Reports
IRELAND 6 PORTUGAL 2
Ireland secured the Pool A first place berth and a semi-final against Scotland on Friday evening with a 6-2 win over Portugal. It was a very close affair early on when Ireland raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to an 11th minute Benjamin Walker goal from open play and a converted penalty corner from Lee Cole on 19 minutes. Portugal responded through a David Franco converted penalty corner on 20 minutes to leave Ireland leading 2-1 at half time.
Sam Hyland was suspended for 10 minutes thanks to a 23rd minute yellow card which straddled the two halves and Portugal equalised on 33 minutes through a Rodrigo Rebelo penalty corner just as Ireland were about to revert to 11 players.
Jeremy Duncan restored Ireland’s lead through a field goal on 43 minutes to make it 3-2. Shane O’Donoghue converted a penalty corner on 53rd minute to give Ireland 4-2 lead. Within a minute Conor Empey got another goal from open play to make it 5-2 and a penalty corner in the final minute to secure a 6-2 win for Ireland .
Elsewhere in Pool A Ukraine secured second place and a semi-final berth against Pool B winners Italy on Friday by beating Czech Republic 5-1. Oleksii Popov gave them the lead from open play on 7 minutes. Andrii Koloshenko converted a penalty corner on 19 minutes to make it 2-0. Viacheslav Paziuk converted a penalty corner on 27 minutes made it 3-0 to Ukraine. Maksym Onofriiuk made it 4-0 on 39 minutes and Bohdan Kovalenko added a fifth a minute later to leave Ukraine leading 5-0.
Denis Tomes scored a penalty corner for Czech Republic to leave the final score 5-1 to Ukraine.
IRELAND: David Harte (GK) ( James Milliken GK 31′), Charlie Rowe, Luke Witherow, Kyle Marshall, Shane O’Donoghue, Sean Murray (capt.), Peter McKibbin, Jeremy Duncan, Benjamin Walker, Sam Hyland, Ben Johnson SUBS: John McKee, Jonathan Lynch, Lee Cole, Conor Empey, Nicholas Page
PORTUGAL: Balthazar Portugal (GK), David Franco, Diogo Rocha, Aidan Fourie, Rodrigo Castro Ivo Moreira, Tiago Ventosa, Rodrigo Rebelo, Afonso Caramalho, Bartolomeu Portugal, José Santos SUBS USED: Helder Goncalves, Tomas Teixera, Simao Pinheiro, Joao Basilia, Santos Ferreira
POOL B
SCOTLAND 10 TURKIYE 0
Struan Walker scored from open play in the second minute to give Scotland a 1-0 lead.
Alan Forsyth added another to make it 2-0 in the 6th minute. And added a third from a penalty stroke in the 21st minute. Struan Walker got his second of the game to make it 4-0 on 23 minutes. Alan Forsyth made it 5-0 a minute later and added a penalty corner for 6-0 in 39th minute. Jamie Golden added a 41st minute penalty corner to make it 7-0. He added two further goals in the 54th minute to make it 9-0. Alan Forsyth scored the final goal of the match on 56 minutes to make it 10-0 and clinch second spot in Pool B.
SWITZERLAND 1 ITALY 2
Italy clinched the Pool B top spot with their third win of the campaign beating Switzerland 2-1.
Marco Moretto gave Italy the lead with a goal from open play in the 12th minute.
A field goal from Felix Dionisi Vici in the 47th minute left the Azzuri leading 2-0.
Loris Grandchamp converted a penalty corner in the 56th minute to give the Swiss a consolation goal it finished 2-1 to Italy. Italy will face Ukraine in the first semi -final on Friday afternoon
