THERE WAS HEARBTREAK and outrage in equal measure for Ireland as they missed out on 2020 Olympic qualification in hugely controversial circumstances in Vancouver, hosts Canada edging them on a shootout after the two-legged play-off tie finished 6-6 on aggregate.
Ireland trailed on the night 2-1 but led 6-5 on aggregate until literally the final second, when a video referral by Canada — made while Ireland celebrated having heard the final whistle — resulted in the Canadians being awarded a penalty stroke upon review of a coming-together between Ireland’s Lee Cole and a Canadian attacker in the Irish circle.
Canada subsequently leveled proceedings and forced a shootout, in which Ireland led by two goals at the halfway mark but subsequently lost in sudden death.
Ireland captain Jonathan Bell credited the Canadians post-match but claimed the video umpire “should hang his head in shame” for his decision to award the victors a penalty stroke in the last second of normal time. “A decision like that at this level is just not acceptable,” Bell added, his Olympic dream and that of his team-mates, many of them in tears, left in tatters.
Irish head coach Mark Tumilty described it as a “very tough call”, and noted that he “wouldn’t see too many of those in any level of hockey”.
Ireland took a commanding 5-3 lead into the second leg but Sunday’s fixture was a far more tense and cagey affair, with Canada much improved at the second time of asking.
Still, Johnny McKee gave the men in green a perfect start, increasing the aggregate lead to 6-3 with a tidy finish from an cute angle early doors.
From there, however, it was David Fitzgerald’s goal which came under the most scrutiny as Canada attempted to battle their way back into the tie.
Fitzgerald produced heroics aplenty but could only do so much: Gordie Johnston and Oliver Schofield struck for the North Americans on either side of half-time to reduce Ireland’s aggregate lead to a single goal with the bones of two quarters remaining.
The visitors managed to take the sting out of the Canadians’ efforts soon after conceding a second, mounting a number of attacks in Canadian territory which ultimately proved fruitless.
Ireland were reduced to 10 men for the opening five minutes of the final quarter, however, when Matt Nelson was given a yellow card at the tail end of the third.
On 47 minutes, Shane O’Donoghue and Canada’s Jamie Wallace collided and temporarily reduced the overall complement to 10 vs 9 in Canada’s favour, but not a great deal of action occurred even with the considerable extra space on the field while the three yellow cards overlapped.
With the game on a knife-edge, Ireland did a fine job of gaining a foothold in the Canadian half, even fashioning a couple of half chances on the counter.
Canada withdrew their goalkeeper and brought on another outfield player with just over two minutes left, but the most they could muster was a half-chance from a long corner which they spurned.
That was until literally the final second, when a Canadian player tumbled after a clash with Lee Cole near Fitzgerald’s goal. The final whistle blew and Ireland began their celebrations, but in a twist, Canada asked for the incident to be reviewed upstairs, claiming to the referee that their player had been body-tackled by Cole in the ‘D’ before the clock expired.
Cole’s challenge looked innocuous enough on the replay but seemingly inexplicably, the Canadians were to the delirium of their home support — and to the conspicuous outrage of their visitors — awarded a penalty stroke with less than a second remaining on the clock.
It was a guilt-edged opportunity to snatch penalties from the jaws of defeat. Scott Tupper squeezed it beneath Fitzgerald to force a shootout. Cue bedlam in the stands.
When the dust settled, Gordie Johnston was first up from the 25′ for the hosts and he beat Fitzgerald at the second time of asking with just two seconds left on his shot-clock.
Eugene Magee leveled for Ireland before some solid goalkeeping by Fitzgerald forced two consecutive Canadian misses on either side of a superb, sweeped finish by Johnny McKee.
It was advantage Ireland and Peter Caruth appeared to copper-fasten it when, after two bites at the cherry, he rolled his penalty home, leaving his side 3-1 up and on the precipice of Olympic qualification.
However, misses by both Michael Robson and Shane O’Donoghue — intertwined with two more goals by Canada — sent the shootout to sudden death.
It was back to Banbridge man Eugene Magee, who had scored Ireland’s first penalty and produced an even more fabulous finish on the swing-around to pile the pressure on Canada and Gordie Johnston. The Canadian talisman, though, squeaked one past Fitzgerald into the bottom right-hand corner.
John McKee was next up for Ireland but in incredibly unfortunate circumstances, he fouled the ball on his run up, clearing the runway for Canada’s flight to Tokyo.
Adam Froese did the business and despite a video referral by Ireland as the hosts celebrated wildly, with Fitzgerald alleging Froese had used the back of his stick, it will be Canada, and not Ireland, who partake in the Olympic Games next year.
"The video umpire should hang his head in shame. It was a terrible, terrible decision in the last moments of the game." - Ireland captain Jonathan Bell speaks his mind after a controversial Olympic play-off defeat #CANvIRE pic.twitter.com/1Yh6ASxwLs
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) October 27, 2019
“We celebrated as if we’d won it,” said head coach Tumilty post-game.
It’s a very tough call. I wouldn’t see too many of those in any level of hockey, to be honest with you – for that to be given. But we had our chances in the shootout as well. Fitzy did very well in goals. That’s the way shootouts go. Listen, they’re potluck.
“Fair play to Canada for their performance today. They hung in there the whole time. Very hard [not] to let their heads drop when we scored early on. But that’s the way it goes. It’s not an easy one to take. It’s probably a real low one. Not easy.
“We probably didn’t play as well as we did yesterday. Canada reacted well to our performance yesterday, however I thought we still created enough chances. The guys dug in very deep there right until the last seconds of the game.
“I’m so very proud of what the guys have delivered over this last six weeks. It was a difficult period for them. There were a lot of unknown in relation to the coaching setup and that. But they’ve been a fantastic group of players to deal with.
For some lads that’s their last international game. What a way to go out of international hockey. But they’ve been excellent servants to Irish hockey. They’ve had a lot of highs. This would be one of the major lows. It’s never a nice way to go out of your international career. But they’re a strong group of lads and there’s a lot of talent still in the group. I’m convinced that this group can bounce back.
