Sport

Ireland women’s hockey team crumble against Britain in final game of series

Nightmare final quarter sees Sean Dancer’s side lose their lead and suffer heavy defeat

Deirdre Duke put Ireland on 2-1 before they suffered a disastrous final 15 minutes. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho

Sun May 2 2021 - 17:05

Ireland’s women fell to a 7-2 loss to Britain in their fourth and final game at Bisham Abbey this week after a nightmare final quarter.

Prior to that, Sean Dancer’s side were in great shape with Hannah Matthews’ penalty corner goal and a tidy goal from Deirdre Duke, slipping the ball home on her reverse, had Ireland 2-1 up with 15 minutes left.

But some loose defensive work allowed the hosts to capitalise and they did so six times to end the series with three wins along with Friday’s 0-0 draw to their name.

Ireland will now look into what they can improve in the six weeks leading up to June’s European Championships in Amsterdam which doubles as a World Cup qualifier.

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Struggled

A big addition will be the return to the fold of goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran who concluded her Dutch club season on Sunday with a second clean sheet in a row as SV Kampong drew 0-0 with Hurley.

The Utrecht club had struggled at times this season, dropping to the bottom of the table, before a change of coach made a big impact with Marieke Dijkstra coming in. Since her arrival, Kampong landed three wins to rise four place in the table and clear of relegation danger.

Also at Kampong, Davey Harte’s team is destined for the Hoofdklasse playoffs where they will meet HC Rotterdam as Kampong finished second in the men’s division, closing out the regular season with a 6-3 win over AH&BC Amsterdam.

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