Malaysia bounce back to share series with Irish men

** Picture: Billy Pollock

Men’s senior international
Ireland 2 (J Duncan, L Madeley) Malaysia 4 (R Rahim 2, A K Azrai, N Hassan)
Ireland had to settle for a shared series with world number 11 side Malaysia as a run of four goals in 11 minutes saw the Asian side prevail 4-2 at Lisnagarvey.

Like the game on Tuesday, the Green Machine got off to a fast start with Tim Cross going close in the opening 10 seconds before Jeremy Duncan put Ireland 1-0 up in the third minute from a fast counter-attack.

Malaysia, though, were quick to respond with Razie Rahim scoring twice within a minute from two penalty corners to swap the lead.

Abu Kamal Azrai got the third when neat work on the baseline set him up with his shot just getting over the line before a diving clearance proved centimetres too late. Najib Hassan added a fourth in the 22nd minute to put Malaysia almost out of sight.

Ireland had the best of the second half, winning a string of penalty corners in the third and fourth quarters, but only had a Luke Madeley switched effort to show for their efforts with two minutes to go.

The series has given coach Mark Tumilty food for thought ahead of the World Cup qualifiers which begin on October 21st in Cardiff with a date against Russia.

Ireland: J Carr, T Cross, M Nelson, D Walsh, N Glassey, K Marshall, S O’Donoghue, S Murray, J Duncan, B Walker, C Harte
Subs: L Madeley, K O’Dea, P McKibbin, M Robson, C Empey, S Hyland, M Ingram

Malaysia: H Othman, M Jalil, A Hamsani, S Cholan, F Ashari, S Silverius, R Rahim, F Jali, A Hasan, A K Azrai, N Jazlan
Subs: N Hassan, N Sumantri, F Saari, A Zain, A Rozemi, H Abdul, Z P Mizan