If Thursday’s scoreless draw with Australia at the FIH Pro League in Hobart was one of Ireland’s finer results, safe to say Sunday’s 4-1 win over the same opposition was up there with the best they’ve ever had.
Australia might be ranked sixth in the world, seven places above Ireland, but they were no match for Gareth Grundie’s side – and if it wasn’t for the goalkeeping of Zoe Newman, the margin of victory would have been greater still.
There was no indication of what was to come when Olivia Downes gave the hosts the lead after just three minutes, but Ireland piled on the pressure thereafter – Michelle Carey, Sarah Torrans, Caoimhe Perdue and Christina Hamill all coming close to equalising in the first quarter.
They turned the game around, though, in the second quarter, Ellen Curran deflecting home Hannah McLoughlin’s penalty corner strike to level the game before Katie Mullan turned home Sarah Hawkshaw’s pullback from the baseline to give them the lead.
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It was, remarkably, 3-1 four minutes in to the second half, Hawkshaw finishing off a smartly worked corner routine, while a Mullan effort was deflected on to the crossbar soon after. Australia had their moments too, Elizabeth Murphy in the Irish goal having to be at her sharpest while player of the match Róisín Upton expertly marshalled her defence.
Newman produced another fine save to deny Niamh Carey, but Ireland killed off any hope Australia had of getting back in to the game four minutes from time when McLoughlin slapped home a corner that had been won by Michelle Carey. That completed the scoring and gave Ireland their first Pro League victory in their tournament debut.
They now have six points from their opening eight games, having taken a bonus point from their draw against England in Dublin last December, before adding four more to their tally from their two games against Australia. That puts them sixth out of the nine competitors, although they have played four more games than some of the nations around them.
Phase three of the tournament takes place in the Netherlands in June when Ireland will play the hosts and Spain, but their focus now is on next month’s World Cup qualifying tournament in Chile where they have been drawn in a group with Canada, Japan and Malaysia. They will go there with a spring in their step after their performances in Hobart.
Ireland: E Murphy, S McAuley, M Carey, R Upton, N Carey, S Hawkshaw (capt), K Mullan, H McLoughlin, C Beggs, C Hamill, K Larmour. Subs: H Micklem, S Torrans, E Curran, C Perdue, J McMaster, M Jennings, L Mulcahy.
