Semi-Final Day at the EuroHockey Championship II Men.
IRELAND 4 SCOTLAND 1
Ireland’s first target from this tournament, which was to secure one of the two spots available in January’s Olympic Qualification Groups, was secured with a second half onslaught which saw them secure a 4-1 win and a place in the final. Scotland began the game very well and created numerous opportunities and they could have counted themselves unlucky not to have been 1-0 up by half time.
The second half was a completely different story however. Jeremy Duncan opened the scoring in the 31st minute from open play to make it 1-0. Ben Johnson increased their lead from a goal from open play in the 40th minute to give a Ireland a 2-0 lead at the end of the third quarter. Lee Cole converted two penalty corners in the 50th and 53rd minutes respectively. To leave Ireland leading 4-0 ahead with only 7 minutes left to play.
Scotland finally got the goal their first half play, deserved, when Alan Forsyth converted a penalty corner in the 58th minute to leave the score 4-1 to Ireland. For Scotland a 3rd and 4th place final with Italy awaits. Ireland take on Ukraine in the final with both sides having secured their place in January’s Olympic qualifiers and having achieved that target there’s a trophy up for grabs in tomorrow’s final.
IRELAND: David Harte (GK), Lee Witherow, John McKee, Kyle Marshall, Shane O’Donoghue, Sean Murray [capt], Michael Robson, Benjamin Walker, Lee Cole, Conor Empey, Sam Hyland; SUBS USED:- Charlie Rowe, Peter McKibbin, Jeremy Duncan, Jonathan Lynch, Ben Johnson, Nicholas Page.
SCOTLAND: Thomas Alexander (GK), Joe Mc Connell, Alan Forsyth, Robert Field, Andrew McConnell, Duncan Riddell, Lee Morton (capt.), Craig Falconer, Jamie Golden, Fraser Moran, Callum Mackenzie SUBS USED:- Thomas Austin, Struan Walker, Keir Robb, Andrew Lochrkin, Kyle White, Ali Douglas
ITALY 3 UKRAINE 3 ( UKRAINE WON 4-3 IN SHOOT-OUT)
Group B winners Italy took on Group A’s second placed nation Ukraine in the opening semi-final and produced a six goal thriller that went all the way. Manuel Mondo put the Italians 1-0 up with a converted 7th minute penalty corner. Viacheslav Paziuk equalised for Ukraine in the 10th minute from a converted penalty corner. Andrii Koshelenko gave Ukraine the lead in the 18th minute from open play. Davide Arosio equalised with a goal from open play in the 39th minute to make it 2-2.
And Davide Arosio gave the Azzuri a 3-2 lead in the 46th minute.Maksym Onofriiuk equalised for Ukraine in the 47th minute and there was no further scoring so it went to a shoot out.
Maksym Onofriiuk took the first penalty for Ukraine and scored 1-0
Geronimo Clement took the first one for Italy and didn’t score .
Vitalii Shevchuk took the second one for Ukraine and scored 2-0.
Thomas Keenan took the second one for Italy and scored 2-1.
Bohdan Kovalenko took the third one for Ukraine and scored 3-1.
Davide Arioso took the third one for Italy and did not score still 3-1.
Volodomyr Kaplinskyi took the fourth one for Ukraine and did not score 3-1.
Claudio Brocco took the fourth one for Italy and scored 3-2.
Andrii Koshelenko took the final one for Ukraine and scored 4-2
Mattia Ambrosini took the final one for Italy and scored and it ended 4-3 to Ukraine.
Ukraine qualify not only for the final of Euro Hockey Championship II tomorrow afternoon but also secured that precious second spot in January’s Olympic qualifiers on offer from this tournament.
