U16 Six Nations Tournament, Cork – Day 1 Round Up
U16 Girls Six Nations Tournament
Ireland 0 Netherlands 3
Ireland began the game brightly with some promising attacks led by Isabelle Maleady and India Cotter before the Dutch took control and began to pressure the Irish defence. After a couple of fine saves and clearances by Irish goalkeeper Holly Micklem, the Dutch took the lead in the 10th minute from a penalty corner through Jill Niessen.
Ireland continued to impress in attack and were somewhat unlucky to concede from another penalty corner in the 26th minute from a Mikki Roberts drag-flick leaving the score at half time at 2-0 to the Netherlands.
In the 39th minute, Kim Hendrix made it 3-0 with a neat finish pushing the ball beyond Micklem. While the Dutch continued to press, Ireland defended strongly into the fourth quarter with no further goals being scored.
Speaking after the game coach Brendon Carolan said “I am pleased with the progression and feel the team will continue to improve as the week goes on. The gaps between the stronger sides will narrow as these players move through to Under 18s and gain more experience.”
In the first game of the day, Spain and England shared eight goals in a 4-4 draw, with England shading the penalty shootout 4-3. This was followed by a 5-0 victory for Germany over Belgium.
Results:
Spain 4 (Martinez Torres; Pena Martinez; Alba Anotnana; Barba Armengol) – England 4 (Klugmam; Alexander; Polley; Chapple). England won the shootout 4-3.
Germany 5 (Fischer; Weidemann; Prumbaum; Strauss; Fleschuetz) – Belgium 0
Ireland 0 – Netherlands 3 (Niessen; Roberts; Hendrix)
Fixtures: Monday 16th July:
12.00 Spain v Belgium
14.00 Germany v Netherlands
16.00 Ireland v England
U16 Boys Six Nations Tournament
Ireland 2 Netherlands 5
Ireland and the Netherlands opened the boys’ tournament in Cork in damp conditions in the Mardyke. The Netherlands opened the scoring after 4 minutes from a penalty corner when goalkeeper Ross Clarke initially saved but could not stop the follow up from Guus Jansen.
Just 4 minutes later, Troy Chambers won a penalty corner for Ireland which led to a penalty stroke after a Dutch stick tackle. Craig Mackay slotted home to make it 1-1. The lead was restored a minute later when Ivo Vasser got on the end of a crossed ball to deflect home to make it 2-1 to the Netherlands. Pim Haring then dispatched a penalty corner to make it 3-1 at the end of the first quarter.
Ireland dominated the second quarter and created several good chances before Luka Peters neatly lifted the ball over the goalkeeper to make it 3-2 to the Netherlands at half time.
The Dutch started the second half strongly and Hidde Parleviet scored 2 goals in 3 minutes to make it 5-2 to the Netherlands after 6 minutes.
In the fourth quarter, Ireland picked up a yellow card for Troy Chambers before the Dutch went down to 9 players with 2 yellow cards in 2 minutes. Just 2 minutes later, the Dutch were reduced to 8 with another yellow card given and Ireland dominated play but could not capitalise on their numerical advantage and the match finished Ireland 2 Netherlands 5.
After the game Niall Denham said “we can definitely take a lot of positives from the game but we are disappointed we didn’t we did not push them closer and we are looking forward to improving throughout the week.”
Four second half penalty corner conversions saw Spain beat England 4-0. In the last game of the day, Belgium scored a late winner from a penalty corner to beat Germany 2-1.
Results:
Ireland 2 (Mackay; Peters) – Netherlands 5 (Jansen; Visser; Haring; Parlevliet (2))
Spain 4 (Bozal (3); Gonzalez) – England 0
Germany 1 (Poljaric) – Belgium 2 (Ofrim; De Bolle)
Fixtures Tuesday 18th July:
12.00 Spain v Belgium
14.00 Germany v Netherlands
16.00 Ireland v England
Photo Credit – Graham Catchpole
