IRELAND 0  

INDIA  1

A LAST-MINUTE goal from India sunk Ireland in their fourth game of the Bhubaneswar phase of the FIH Pro League. 

Playing the hosts in front of a crowd of more than 20,000 partisan supporters at the Kalinga Stadium was always going to be a challenge – all the more so given it was Ireland’s second game in two days at the end of a week of action. 

India are coached by former Ireland coach Craig Fulton, whose daughter Milla has been capped at senior level by Ireland at Indoor hockey.  

And Fulton’s side seemed well able to counter whatever Ireland threw at them in attack, while Ireland defended with great commitment.

The opening stages were fairly even, and it was no major surprise that it was scoreless at the end of the first half. 

In the third quarter Akashdeep Singh had the ball in the net but goalkeeper Jamie Carr had been taken out so Ireland were awarded a free hit out. Ireland were awarded another free hit out two minutes later after India had the ball in the net again, but the goal was ruled out for another infringement.

Ireland forced a long corner in the 38th minute and the resulting effort was saved by Krishan Pathak.

Ireland were awarded a penalty corner in the 51st minute, which was saved by Sreejesh Parattu. 

Jeremy Duncan was green carded in the 52nd minute, temporarily reducing Ireland to 10 players. During this time Ireland’s best chance fell to Ben Johnson whose attempted pass across the face of the goal was kicked clear by PR Sreejesh.

Sukhreet Singh was key to all the best of the Indian’s attacking play. Daragh Walsh was equally important to Ireland’s attacking moves but if you had to pick an Irishman for a player of the match accolade in this game, Carr was probably the standout performer.

In the 59th minute just when it appeared Ireland had done enough to hang on for their first point in the FIH PRO League in their history, Gujant Singh scored from the edge of the D. 

Mark Tumilty, the Ireland head coach, said: “While we defended well, I still thought we created chances in attack. I feel for Jamie Carr tonight, he’s annoyed with that last minute goal. It was one of those unfortunate goals.

“We want to come home from India with some points on the board. We are going in the right direction. We’re up against the best teams in the world, most of whom are full-time professional athletes, but we’ve shown that we can compete at this level. We need to build on that, take a few chances and get our corners firing.” 

IRELAND: Jamie Carr, Luke Madeley, John McKee, Daragh Walsh, Shane O’Donoghue, Sean Murray (C), Peter McKibbin, Jeremy Duncan, Peter Brown, Lee Cole, Nicholas Page. SUBS USED:  Matthew Nelson (4 mins), Kevin O’Dea (6 mins), Michael Robson (6 mins), Jonathan Lynch (4 mins), Sam Hyland (6 mins), Ben Johnson (6 mins)

INDIA: Krishan Bahadur Pathak,  Jarmanpreet Singh, Abhishek Akashdeep Singh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Gurjant Singh, Harmanpreet Singh (C), Nilakanta Sharma, Akashdeep Singh, Amit Rohidas,  SUBS USED:  Sumit (5 mins),  Amir ALI (3 mins),  Raj Kumar Pal (4 mins), Rabichanrdra Moiranghtem (5 mins) Sukhjeet Singh, Araijeet Singh Hundal (4 mins), Sreejesh Parattu, Raveen Prave