Women's Hockey/ World Cup qualifiers: The strains of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life resounded from the Irish dressingroom some 20 minutes after the final hooter at the Tre Fontan Stadium in sun-drenched Rome yesterday after this comprehensive defeat by China left the dream of a place in the World Cup finals in ruins.
The aim of the exercise had been to finish in the top five and book a ticket to the finals scheduled for Madrid in September. Now there will be little more than pride at stake as Ireland prepare to take on New Zealand tonight with seventh place to play for.
In yesterday's other match in the 5th-8th play-offs, the Kiwis fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat to France, who will now meet China for the one remaining berth in Spain.
The Irish players were in more disappointed mood immediately after the game as they walked slowly to their dug-out with heads bowed. National coach Riet Kuper insisted the tournament had represented a positive exercise in some respects, although the ultimate goal was not achieved. Most notably, Kuper pointed to the earlier draws against higher-ranked nations.
Not for the first time in such circumstances the Dutch woman called for a more professional approach in Irish hockey if events in Rome are not to be replicated.
"We need to have more time to prepare for tournaments like these and we had a relatively short build-up for the World Cup qualifier," she argued. "You are up against professional set-ups and, in many cases, the other teams have been together for six months or even a year at a time.
"But to have more time, you need to have more money. However, the game in Ireland is certainly moving in the right direction. The players give as much commitment as they possibly can, but in most cases they use up all their leave to train and play hockey, and that is something we must address."
Turning to yesterday's game, Kuper agreed it was "amateurs against professionals". Unfortunately for Ireland, the tournament top-seeds struck top form for the first time.
"Some of their goals were absolutely fantastic. Their corners, particularly, their drag-flicks, were excellent, and Angela Platt (the Irish goalkeeper) said she didn't even see one of their strikes flying past her. But we just weren't fit enough, whereas teams like China are able to train full-time, which goes back to my original point."
Ireland held out for 24 minutes when, after a swift-passing move down the right, Feng Wan Zhow planted the ball home from the edge of the circle. Three minutes later, Xia Zhao Chen added number two from a low shot at a penalty-corner.
The Chinese killed the game off three minutes after the restart when Bo Yi Ma sent a magnificent drag-flicked corner into the top-right of the net. In the 46th minute Chen found the target with a carbon-copy. Four minutes later Hua Li Gao made it 5-0 with a terrific reverse-stick effort.
Kuper sent on Pembroke goalkeeper Mary Goode for her first appearance of the tournament near the end. Unfortunately, her first action was to pick the ball out of the net after Xia Hong Li completed the rout with another clinical finish on the reverse.
IRELAND: A Platt; C Parkhill, C O'Brien, J Orbinson, F Connery; C Carey, L Caulfield (capt), B McKeever; N Symmons, E Cregan, C McKean.
WORLD CUP QUALIFIER (at Rome) - Play-offs: 9th-12th: Ukraine 1, Azerbaijan 4; Italy 1, Scotland 5. 5th-8th: China 6, Ireland 0; New Zealand 0, France 1. 1st-4th: England 1, US 0, after extra time; Korea 1, Japan 0.
Today: Play-offs: 11th-12th: Ukraine v Italy, 1.30. 9th-10th: Azerbaijan v Scotland, 4.15. 7th-8th: Ireland v New Zealand, 7.0.
