IRELAND’S WAIT FOR a Hockey Pro League point continues, after a 4-1 defeat to table-toppers Australia in Rourkela, India.
All five goals came in the second half, as the Aussies flexed their considerable muscle after a frustrating opening period. The scoreline was 5-0 when the sides met last week.
On this occasion, Ireland started brightly and showed improvements in the final third, with Sean Murray forcing two saves from Australian goalkeeper Andrew Charter. Ireland ‘keeper James Milliken was similarly called to action, while Ireland’s defence held firm.
But Australia made their dominance felt and eventually broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute. Blake Govers scored from their ninth penalty corner, before Nathan Ephraums doubled their lead from another seven minutes later.
Shane O’Donoghue hit back for Ireland, converting their first penalty corner in the 44th minute, but Grovers soon had another and it was 3-1 as the clock struck 52 minutes.
And Player of the Match Jack Welch rounded off a comfortable win four minutes from time with an effort from open play.
“For a few of the Australia goals, we got unfortunate with some of the deflections,” Ireland head coach Mark Tumilty said afterwards.
“We have to defend a bit better outside the circle. We conceded very quickly after scoring and that’ s something we need to work on.
“We have grown in the tournament and now we need to get something on the board before we go home. I think we deserve something from this tournament and that will be our main focus going into those final games.”
In their debut Pro League campaign, Ireland have fallen to back-to-back defeats to world number one side Netherlands (5-1 and 2-1) and also lost to India (1-0) and Spain (4-2) thus far.
“Ireland are a good side,” Welch added. “They’ve had some close results in the last few games and I think we played really well, especially towards the end. A lot of ball possession, a lot of control, so we’re pretty happy with the performance.”
Ireland face Spain next on Saturday, before playing India on Sunday.
AUSTRALIA: Andrew Charter (G), Corey Weyer, Jake Harvie, Tom Wickham, Jacob Anderson, Joshua Beltz, Blake Govers, Jayden Atkinson, Tim Howard, Flynn Ogilvie, Daniel Beale.
Subs used: James Collins (3 mins), Jack Welch (3mins), Lachlan Sharp (4 mins) Ky Willott (4 mins), Nathan Ephraums (5 mins), Eddie Ockenden (C) (5 mins).
IRELAND: James Milliken (GK), Luke Witherow, Lee Cole, Shane O’Donoghue, Nicholas Page, Peter McKibbin, Sean Murray (C), Daragh Walsh, Jeremy Duncan, Ben Walker, Jonathan Lynch.
Subs used: Peter Brown (5 mins), Conor Empey (5 mins), Matthew Nelson (5 mins), Kevin O’Dea (5 mins), Charlie Rowe (6 mins), Sam Hyland (8 mins).
