OLYMPIC GAMES HOCKEY/ POOL B: IRELAND 1 AUSTRALIA 2
MONDAY JULY 29, PARIS: Ireland took on their opponents Australia in their second Pool B fixture at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Monday. Australia went into this game in better form on paper having beaten 2016 Gold medal winners Argentina in their opening game while Ireland went into this game on the back of 0-2 defeat to Belgium. Having beaten Ireland twice (0-5 and 1-4) on their journey to being crowned FIH PRO League Champions Australia were favorites going into today’s game.
Australia took the lead in the 9th minute when Corey Weyer scored after Ireland had failed to clear a penalty corner. Ireland equalised in the 24th minute when Lee Cole converted a penalty corner to make it 1-1. Blake Govers penalty stroke in the closing seconds of the first half left them 2-1 ahead at half-time. There was no further scoring in the third or fourth quarter.
Australia started strongly and forced David Harte to save in the opening minute. Ireland were forced to defend and, like their opening encounter, visits to the Australian semi-circle were rarities in the first quarter. The first penalty corner of the game fell to Australia after 9 minutes. David Harte saved the initial dragflick, but the ball rebounded out to Australia who created an opening and found Cory Weyer unmarked who lofted the ball into the Irish net. Australia led 1-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Jeremy Duncan created an opening for Jonny McKee, which was Ireland’s first noteworthy attack of the game, in the 20th minute. McKee’s effort was blocked before he got an effective shot at goal. Two minutes later Sean Murray won possession in midfield and sent Jeremy Duncan down the wing. He then cut into the semi-circle using his dribbling ability on the end line to generate some space, but his cross was blocked. In the 23rd minute Matthew Nelson got into the Australian 23-meter zone and found Michael Robson whose cross was also blocked. Ireland were getting closer and were enjoying more time in the attacking third in the second quarter. It was no surprise when Ireland got their first penalty corner of the game in the 24th minute.
Lee Cole, playing in his 126th international game, scored his 33rd international goal when he converted a 24th minute penalty corner to give Ireland a deserved equaliser.
It was even enough until the final minute of Q2 when Australia were awarded a penalty corner. The first penalty corner was well run down by IRL but was adjudged to have hit a foot and Australia were given another penalty corner. Their second effort evaded the first runner, hitting Cole’s foot on the line resulting in a penalty stroke with 40 seconds remaining. Blake Govers, who has been averaging a goal a game at international level for Australia, made no mistake to send Australia in at half-time 2-1 up.
Australia came back into the game a lot more in the third quarter, but Ireland did have opportunities. Ben Walker had a chance to score in the 33rd minute but he rushed his effort, and it did not hit the target. Australia launched a counter-attack and they forced a penalty corner. The penalty corner was blocked by first runner Matthew Nelson. Hayward eventually shot wide. In the 35th minute Harte saved from Govers at point blank range.
Ireland were temporarily reduced to 10 players when Michael Robson was green carded in the 36th minute and were forced to defend a lot with a man down. Australia won another penalty corner in the 38th minute which produced a second one. This one was blocked by Jeremy Duncan at the expense of a third penalty corner. Ireland were eventually awarded a free hit out when David Harte saved. Ireland finished the quarter with a man advantage when Lachlan Sharp was green carded for the Aussies but were unable to add to the score sheet and ended the quarter still trailing 2-1.
Australia looked to have taken the lead in the 49th minute following the award of a penalty corner. Jeremy Hayward’s shot was blocked by David Harte and Tom Wickham pounced to put the ball in the net. However, Ireland opted to appeal the decision to the video umpire, stating that Peter McKibbin was stick tackled by Wickham before his shot on goal. The video umpire upheld the appeal, and the goal was ruled out.
Australia had a long corner awarded to them in the 51st minute and they appealed to the video umpire that Nelson had used the back of his stick to put the ball out of play. The video umpire ruled that the challenge was legal and the Australian’s lost their video referral but kept their long corner which resulted in nothing. Peter Brown got into the semi-circle a minute later but was unable to effect a shot on target.
Ireland tried to get a chance to even the score but, in the end, they were unsuccessful, and it ended 2-1. A much-improved performance over the Belgium game and the best performance of the three Ireland – Australia games played in 2024.
Speaking after the match Ireland Head Coach Mark Tumilty said:
“It was a much more pleasing performance; one we can be proud of. It’s something we can build on heading into tomorrow. I think we learned a lot from the PRO League games against Australia. It was a completely different game against them out there today.
Australia respected us there at the end for the contest we gave them there today.
I think there’s opportunities in these games. We need to execute in the final third, be more clinical in both circles, to give ourselves a chance of winning the two games, which is what’s required to advance to the knockout stages. We were never really out of the game.
When the opportunity arises let’s get across that line. We need to win one of the next two games to give ourselves a chance going into the final Pool game on Friday.
Speaking about Ireland’s first goal of Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Tumilty said:
“It was a good penalty corner from Lee Cole and that will give him confidence as we progress through the tournament which is important. We also have Shane O’Donoghue and Ben Johnson and a few variations we can use. We’ve got options off the top of the circle. It’s just a matter of winning a few more penalty corners.”
Speaking about Ireland’s next opponents, India, Tumilty stated:
“India offer a different challenge to other teams. A team we have to give our utmost respect to. On their day they are a world class side. If we can just stay in that game until half time, then see what we can do in the second half.
It’s a similar pitch to the one they trained on in Banbridge, so they are quite familiar with it and they looked a lot more comfortable out there today. They need to bring that with them into the next game”.
IRELAND: David Harte; Tim Cross; Kyle Marshall; Shane O’Dononghue; Lee Cole ; Daragh Walsh ; Sean Murray [c] ; Michael Robson ; John McKee; Matthew Nelson; Jeremy Duncan; Ben Walker
SUBS USED :- Matthew Nelson ; Peter McKibbin; Jonny Lynch ; Peter Brown; Ben Johnson
AUSTRALIA: Andrew Charter [GK] ; Thomas Craig ; Cory Weyer ; Tom Wickham ; Nathan Ephrams ; Joshua Belt ; Eddie Ockenden ; Aran alewski ; Flynn Ogilvie ; Ky Willott ; Jeremy Hayward
SUBS USED- Lachlan Sharp ; Jake Harvie ; Blake Govers ; Matthew Dawson ; Tim Brand
