HOCKEY:IRELAND'S MEN were left frustrated as a poor middle phase of their opening European championships tie, littered with individual errors and a glut of penalty corners, saw them ultimately come unstuck 4-2 against reigning champs, England, yesterday morning.
Chris Cargo’s finish highlighted an excellent opening quarter but Paul Gleghorne’s yellow card seemed to kickstart the world number four side’s response.
They levelled from their first shot from play, a fine Matt Daly finish, and hit the front early in the second half when skipper Barry Middleton capitalised on another error.
The returning Ashley Jackson picked out the top corner – one which Ronan Gormley had defended superbly in the first half – from England’s sixth corner before Ireland eventually rallied again with John Jermyn ripping home his 67th international strike.
He had a chance to level with three minutes to go, too, but James Fair dived high to push the ball away from the top corner.
With Ireland piling forward in the latter stages, a swift English counter nabbed an insurance goal, Rob Moore picking out Middleton to slide home his second and make sure of the points.
For Ulster-man Iain Lewers, it was a low key performance as he looked solid in the English defence against his former Irish team-mates, including Annadale club mate Peter Caruth. He did play a pivotal role in the fourth goal, setting Moore free.
For Irish coach Paul Revington, it was frustrating to let a strong start slip. “I’m disappointed to concede so many penalty corners which put us on the back foot. We did well to save a number but mentally conceding that many is tough”, he said. Ireland’s men play again today, looking to keep their semi-final hopes alive against France, a side they have beaten four times in the last three months. The French lost 8-1 to tournament favourites the Netherlands in their game yesterday.
Ireland’s women crashed to a harrowing 3-0 loss at the hands of Belgium, the tournament’s second lowest ranked side, last night and are now condemned to the EuroHockey Nations Championships relegation pool. It was Belgium’s first win at A Division level and means Ireland’s final group game against England tomorrow is a dead rubber.
IRELAND: D Harte, J Jackson, G McCabe, R Gormley, M Watt, E Magee, M Darling, T Cockram, D Ames, P Gleghorne, C Harte Subs: J Brennan, J Jermyn, P Caruth, A McConnell, C Cargo.
ENGLAND: J Fair, G Kirkham, R Mantell, A Jackson, R Moore, A Dixon, A Wilson, B Middleton, J Tindall, M Pearn, I Lewers. Subs: R Alexander, M Daly, I Mackay, N Catlin, R Smith
TODAY’S FIXTURES (all Irish time): Men: France v Ireland, 12pm,
Women - IRELAND: E Gray, M Harvey, C Sargent, E Smyth, E Clarke, A Speers, S McCay, S McCarthy, A Connery, N Symmons, C Watkins. Subs: L Jacob, N Small, J OHalloran, A OFlynn, L Colvin
