TOTALLY drained after being overwhelmed by Argentina yesterday, in one of the heaviest defeats in the country's hockey history, it was doubtful last night if Ireland, could make a significant recovery in their remaining four matches in the World Cup qualifying tournament in Kuala Lumpur.
They must now face New Zealand (tomorrow) and Belarus (on Monday) in their remaining two pool matches. On paper, there would be an outside chance of survival if Ireland were to win both games, and the Kiwis lose to Belgium. But that is clinging to the most flimsy of tissues.
The realistic scenario is that after a day's sanctuary in the Irish Embassy, there will be a sufficient renewal of spirit to contain New Zealand, say to the margin of 3-1, which was the result in Cagliari last October, and then, hopefully, to repeat a 2-1 victory gained over Belarus in the European Championship in Dublin. Even this, though, could be demanding as the men from Minsk found their scoring touch yesterday before losing 7-5 to Belgium.
There is not much point in dwelling on Ireland's debacle. Yet there was sympathy in many circles. This was reflected, indeed, by Argentina's assistant coach, Alexandro Verga, a former international centre-forward who has pillaged Irish defences in the past. "If you lose two matches that you deserved to draw (against Belgium and South Korea) it is very difficult in the mind to start a comeback," he said.
Initially, it seemed that Ireland might somehow make a showing. Both Gregg Sterritt and Errol Lutton brought off several first-rate tackles and clearances, while Ivan Bateman was as agile as ever between the posts. But the pace and skill of the Argentinian attackers produced goals by Carlos Geneyro and Rudolf Perez Gentile in the 16th and 24th minutes. Then, Santiago Capurro made it 3-0 at the interval with a brilliant reverse-stick shot.
Although Mark Irwin earned an Irish short corner which went close to yielding a reply early in the second half, Argentina struck three more goals in the space of four minutes through Jorge Lombi (two - one from a penalty stroke) and Capurro.
Mark Tumilty, making his international debut in this tournament, found encouraging freshness to win a corner from which Rodolfo Schmitt could only parry Robbie Taylor's shot and the resourceful Neil Cooke scored coolly to give Ireland a crumb of consolation.
However, the team, suffering from the broiling conditions, wilted completely as the Argentinians revelled in space to strike again in the 53rd, 56th and 58th minutes, with Eduardo Peralta and German Orozco getting their names on the scoresheet and the quick-firing Geneyro finding the target for the second time.
Don't cry for us, Argentina - we will take you on again some day, in a more temperate climate.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)