USA deny Irish women’s hockey team Rio qualification

Two days after their shoot-out defeat to China in the Women's Hockey World League quarter final Ireland's Olympic qualification dream was brought to a cruel end by the USA.

Having been literally the width of a post away from securing qualification for Rio 2016 against China, Ireland were far from their best in a 6-1 defeat against a team they had already seen off in the pool stages.

Ireland were aiming for a spot in the fifth/sixth place playoff, and with that another chance at qualification.

Despite having beaten the Americans 2-0 in the pool stages, Ireland were unable to repeat those heroics as they found themselves two goals down after the first quarter.

Laura Crandall’s brace was added to in the second quarter by two more goals from Katie O’Donnell for the USA.

Ireland did manage a consolation goal via Anna O'Flanagan, her fourth in the competition. Although Paige Selenski and Jill Witmer soon added a fifth and sixth for the victors as Ireland continued to bravely push on in search of further consolation.

Darren Smith’s 14th seeded Ireland managed wins over South Africa, Uruguay and USA in the pool stages, but the heartbreaking defeat to seventh seeded China seemed to have taken its toll.

They have to go again though with a seventh place playoff still to come, with extra world ranking points at stake.