Maltese put to the sword

HOCKEY/Ireland ... 13 Malta ... 0: On an opening day of record scoring and one-sided matches, Ireland overwhelmed Malta 13-0 in the European Championship qualifying tournament at Belfield yesterday. A more realistic test will come this evening against Italy, who defeated Finland 8-0.

All Malta could do was to defend despairingly for the entire game without once penetrating the Irish circle.

Ireland amassed 21 short corners, from seven of which they found the target.

The score steadily mounted to five at the interval, with Stephen Butler striking twice and Gordon Elliott once from set-pieces while Julian Stevenson and Mark Irwin added finishing touches from open play.

A scuffed shot from Mark Black increased the margin to six at the start of the second half. Then Butler completed a hat-trick and there followed a blitz in which five goals were registered in eight minutes, the best of which came from Elliott following a mazy run by Mark Raphael.

Raphael himself was next to score, followed by Chris Jackson, Jason Black and then Elliott for a hat-trick before Graham Shaw registered his first international goal in the last minute.

"At least we got a chance to practice our penalty corners" said the Irish coach, John Clarke. "Yes, Italy will be tougher, but if we play well we should win."

IRELAND: N Henderson (capt); P Brown, D Smyth, E Lutton, J Black; M Raphael, S Butler, M Black; J Sherriff, M Irwin, G Elliott. Subs: C Jackson, G Shaw, D Hobbs, J Stevenson, W Bateman.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS

European Championship Qualifying Tournament (Belfield).

MEN

Pool A: Austria 5 (M Mayer 2, P Proksch 2, R Buchta) Gibraltar 4 (M Wood 3, R Guillino); Wales 10 (S Organ 5, J Ogden 2, H Hoskin 2, P Edwards) Greece 0: Pool B: Italy 8 (G Cirilli 3, A de Bortoli 3, M Lanzano, L Perelli) Finland 0; Ireland 13 (S Butler 3, G Elliott 3, J Stevenson, M Irwin, M Black, M Raphael, C Jackson, J Black, G Shaw) Malta 0.