Hockey European Championships: It is sometimes said of Riet Kuper she's a good coach, but not a great "tournament" coach.
Often she has picked her strongest line-up to play teams of the calibre of Australia, England, Holland and Germany, in the hope of putting up "a good show", when common sense would largely dictate she should be resting key players, with an eye on pool games against teams of equal, or lesser, abilities.
Perhaps Kuper finally came of age as a tournament coach in Barcelona yesterday, when Ireland came up against an in-form England team that has its eye on nothing less than "gold", with Holland the only nation likely to challenge them.
Angela Platt, first-choice goalkeeper until now, was left in the stands, as was young midfielder Bridget McKeever, while the five named outfield substitutes - Fiona Connery, Suzanne Beaney, Karen Bateman, Cathy McKean and Nikki Symmons - saw enough action to ensure Kuper's preferred starting 11 will have enough energy in reserve to take on France in Thursday's play-offs for fifth to eighth places.
A victory in that game would guarantee Ireland a fifth or sixthplace finish in this tournament, a significant improvement on their placing in the 1999 finals when they beat the French to finish ninth.
Despite all the changes yesterday Ireland still produced a commendable display, with England's third goal, a minute from time, taking the sheen off what would have been a "reasonable" margin of defeat - it was, after all, 0-5 in the 1999 finals.
That three-goal margin, though, is probably a fair reflection on the gap in class between the teams, the days when Ireland were capable of avoiding defeat by England, in a game that truly matters, are long since gone.
Jane Smith got the first of England's goals after just seven minutes, turning home Jo Ellis's cross from the right, with Anna Bennett making it 2-0 in the 44th minute, the forward skipping past a string of Irish players, unchallenged, before firing past Nikki King.
Ireland came closest to scoring a minute after the break when Bateman deflected Jill Orbinson's free on to the crossbar, before Carolyn Reid saved Lynsey McVicker's left-corner-bound shot in the 58th minute.
Fatal hesitation by Daphne Sixsmith in the right corner gifted England their third goal in the dying moments, Ellis dispossessing the centre back to cross for Helen Grant to score.
Ireland, though, are assured of third place in the pool, behind England and Germany, ahead of Ukraine, Italy and Wales. "Mission accomplished," as McVicker put it after the game.
IRELAND (v England): N King, L Caulfield, C O'Brien, D Sixsmith, K Maybin, E Cregan, J Orbinson, R Kohler (capt), J McDonough, J Burke, L McVicker. Subs used: F Connery, S Beaney, K Bateman, C McKean, N Symmons.
