AT THE BELFIUS Hockey Arena in Wavre with their fans in full voice, Ireland beat New Zealand to keep their dreams alive of potentially progressing to the semi-final stage.
Having lost narrowly 2-3 against Spain in their opening Group C game, the Green Machine began confidently in their second match at the tournament.
However, New Zealand’s Brittany Wang in particular caused problems for the Irish defence on the right wing.
With cooler conditions and drizzle beginning to fall after the first quarter, Ireland eventually broke the deadlock in the 24th minute when captain Sarah Hawkshaw got a vital deflection from an excellent Niamh Carey cross.
Advertisement
Momentum was clearly with Gareth Grundie’s side, but they opted to play down the clock until the whistle despite enjoying possession and Irish fans cheering for more.
Emelia Surridge equalised for New Zealand early in the second-half to level matters, as momentum kept shifting between the teams.
Hawkshaw almost had her second with a remarkable backhand strike from a tight angle, but a video referral eventually showed the strike to have been taken marginally outside the circle to rule it out much to the dismay of Irish fans.
With tension building in what was a must-win game for both sides, Roisin Upton calmly put away a penalty stroke after a New Zealand defender was found to have stopped the ball on the goal line with her body. Remarkably it was also a first ever World Cup goal for the 32-year-old.
In the 57th minute, veteran forward Katie Mullan then scored Ireland’s third with a neat deflection off an Upton drag flick in a penalty corner and Irish fans were now in full voice with chants of ‘Ole Ole’ starting.
Ireland’s Charlotte Beggs shoots at goal. Rodrigo Jaramillo / INPHO
Rodrigo Jaramillo / INPHO / INPHO
However, New Zealand scored again with just 13 seconds remaining and still pushed the Green Machine until the very end.
“World Cup wins are not easy to come by” said Mullan in her post-match interview.
“It was always going to be a battle and I think we showed great resilience. Onwards and upwards. I’m so proud of the girls. It was just unbelievable strength of character.
“We were disappointed after the other night but whiped the slate clean and came out with a real fighting performance today. Sometimes that’s just the way you have to do it at a World cup”
Ireland Women are next in action against the tournament co-hosts Belgium on Thursday at 7.30pm (Irish time) in another crucial game to their semi-final hopes.
IRELAND: E Murphy (GK); S McAuley, M Carey, N Carey, S Hawkshaw (capt), K Mullan, H McLoughlin, E Neill, C Perdue, C Beggs, A Utri. Rolling subs: R Upton, E Curran, C Hamill, K Larmour, M Power, E Kealy.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Ireland keep World Cup dreams alive with crucial win against New Zealand
Ireland 3
New Zealand 2
Dave Sihra reports from the Belfius Hockey Arena
AT THE BELFIUS Hockey Arena in Wavre with their fans in full voice, Ireland beat New Zealand to keep their dreams alive of potentially progressing to the semi-final stage.
Having lost narrowly 2-3 against Spain in their opening Group C game, the Green Machine began confidently in their second match at the tournament.
However, New Zealand’s Brittany Wang in particular caused problems for the Irish defence on the right wing.
With cooler conditions and drizzle beginning to fall after the first quarter, Ireland eventually broke the deadlock in the 24th minute when captain Sarah Hawkshaw got a vital deflection from an excellent Niamh Carey cross.
Momentum was clearly with Gareth Grundie’s side, but they opted to play down the clock until the whistle despite enjoying possession and Irish fans cheering for more.
Emelia Surridge equalised for New Zealand early in the second-half to level matters, as momentum kept shifting between the teams.
Hawkshaw almost had her second with a remarkable backhand strike from a tight angle, but a video referral eventually showed the strike to have been taken marginally outside the circle to rule it out much to the dismay of Irish fans.
With tension building in what was a must-win game for both sides, Roisin Upton calmly put away a penalty stroke after a New Zealand defender was found to have stopped the ball on the goal line with her body. Remarkably it was also a first ever World Cup goal for the 32-year-old.
In the 57th minute, veteran forward Katie Mullan then scored Ireland’s third with a neat deflection off an Upton drag flick in a penalty corner and Irish fans were now in full voice with chants of ‘Ole Ole’ starting.
However, New Zealand scored again with just 13 seconds remaining and still pushed the Green Machine until the very end.
“World Cup wins are not easy to come by” said Mullan in her post-match interview.
“It was always going to be a battle and I think we showed great resilience. Onwards and upwards. I’m so proud of the girls. It was just unbelievable strength of character.
“We were disappointed after the other night but whiped the slate clean and came out with a real fighting performance today. Sometimes that’s just the way you have to do it at a World cup”
Ireland Women are next in action against the tournament co-hosts Belgium on Thursday at 7.30pm (Irish time) in another crucial game to their semi-final hopes.
IRELAND: E Murphy (GK); S McAuley, M Carey, N Carey, S Hawkshaw (capt), K Mullan, H McLoughlin, E Neill, C Perdue, C Beggs, A Utri. Rolling subs: R Upton, E Curran, C Hamill, K Larmour, M Power, E Kealy.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Hockey hockey world cup Ireland Hockey New Zealand Hockey