Ireland confirm European Championships qualification with thumping win over Turkey

Ireland 7 Turkey 0

Even before they took to the pitch at Abbotstown on Sunday Ireland were already assured of their place in the line-up for the 2023 European Championships, but they wrapped up their qualifying tournament in style with their third successive win, a 7-0 drubbing of Turkey.

Poland’s 1-0 defeat by the Czech Republic earlier in the day meant Ireland’s wins over those two nations on Thursday and Saturday were enough to seal the tournament and book their place in Germany next summer, making the outing against the Turks a formality.

After a scoreless opening quarter Ireland went to town on a side ranked 20 places below them in the world list, three goals in eight second quarter minutes putting the contest to bed.

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Michelle Carey got their first when she deflected home Roisin Upton’s drag from a penalty corner and two minutes later, in a near replica of that goal, Naomi Carroll turned home Hannah McLoughlin’s sweep from another corner.

Katie McKee then got her first senior international goal when she rounded off a speedy counter-attack before Upton had a penalty stroke saved.

Ireland doubled that scoreline in the third quarter, Niamh Carey intercepting a loose Turkish pass at the back to make it 4-0 before Deirdre Duke slotted home Sarah Hawkshaw’s reverse cross from the left and Upton fired home a penalty corner.

Hawkshaw rounded off the scoring in the final quarter, becoming the seventh Irish player to get their name on the score-sheet.

Job done, comprehensively, Ireland will once again mix it with Europe’s elite next summer, that tournament doubling as the start of the effort to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Ireland: E Murphy, S McAuley, M Carey, R Upton, S Hawkshaw, K Mullan (capt), L Tice, N Carroll, C Perdue, D Duke, E Curran. Subs: A McFerran, C Hamill. H McLoughlin, N Carey, S Torrans, C Beggs, K McKee.

Turkey: S Turker, K Guzelal, M Aslan, E Sahiner, M Oymak, S Yalçın, T Sahiner, P Kucukkoc (Capt), F Gültekin, E Bahçıvan, Y Celik. Subs: S Guzeller, Z Kendir, E Celik, I Taskiran, F Cigerli, S Kurt, C Korkmaz.

EuroHockey Championships qualifying tournament (at Abbotstown) - Sunday: Poland 0, Czech Republic 1; Ireland 7 (M Carey, N Carroll, K McKee, N Carey, D Duke, R Upton, S Hawkshaw), Turkey 0.