Ireland international Shane O’Donoghue announces his retirement after 246 appearances
IRELAND 4 CZECHIA 0
Dublin, Aug 25: Ireland world ranked #9 took on Czechia world ranked #30 in the 3rd-4th place final at the Sport Campus Ireland on Sunday afternoon. With only the tournament winners advancing to the A Division European Championships next summer, both these sides would be facing the prospect of B Division European Championships in 2025 regardless of who secured the bronze medal.
Ireland International and record goal scorer Shane O’Donoghue, with 242 caps and 124 goals, announced before the game that he was retiring with effect from the final hooter in this game. It was absolutely appropriate that he got to wear the captain’s armband in the absence of Sean Murray for this tournament.
Ireland opened the scoring in the 6th minute. Shane O’Donoghue converted a penalty corner to give Ireland the lead. Ireland forced four penalty corners in all during the first half but did not convert the others and it was 1-0 at half-time. Ireland began the third quarter strongly. Alistair Empey made it 2-0 from open play in the 32nd minute. Lee Cole converted a penalty corner a minute later to make it 3-0. Louis Rowe added another goal from open play in the 37th minute and that was it as regards goal scoring. Ireland winning the game 4-0 to secure the bronze medal.
IRELAND :- Mark Ingram (GK) ; Luke WItherow, Luke Madeley, Shane O’Donoghue , Lee Cole; Peter Brown, Daragh Walsh , Louis Rowe, Charlie Rowe; Ben Walker , Michael Robson SUBS USED:- James Milliken (GK) [16 mins] ; Tim Cross [ 4 mins] ; Alistair Empey [ 4 mins] ; Kyle Marshall [ 4 mins] ; Ben Johnson [ 5 mins] ; Jonathan Lynch [ 5 mins] :
CZECHIA: Petr Vetrovsky (GK) ; Stepan Klaban; Vit Soukup; Vojtech Kolar; Lukas Plochy; Adam Uhlir (C); Ondrej Soukup ; Patrik Dubina; Martin Plachy; Jakub Klaban; Ondrej Hes SUBS USED:- Vojtech Pazitka (GK) [16 mins]; Frantisek Toms [2 mins] ; Stepan Smid [4 mins]; Jan Zelezny [ 4 mins]; Krystof Sestak [ 5 mins] ; Josef Toms [5 mins]; Dominik Bystricky [ 6 mins] ;
In the 7th-8th place final world ranked #72 placed Malta took on unranked Luxembourg playing in their first tournament. Luxembourg got their first ever international goal in their 5th-8th place defeat to Turkiye. While Malta went into this game still waiting for their first goal of the tournament.
In the 5th-6th place final world ranked #27 Italy took on Turkiye world ranked #43. Italy were involved in the closest quarter final clash against Poland losing in a penalty shoot-out. They beat Malta 12-0 in the 5th-8th place play-off to reach this game
In the gold medal match final Poland world ranked #28 took on Wales, world ranked #17. Wales had been favourites to reach the decider on their side of the draw. Poland upsetting world ranked #9 hosts Ireland in a semi-final penalty shoot-out on their side. The real target for both sides over and above the gold medal was the solitary spot available in next summer’s A Division EuroHockey Championship finals in Moenchengladbach, Germany.
Wales would have been slight favourites given their higher world rankings going into this game. Poland put in another staunch defensive display and Wales found them as difficult to break down as both Ireland and Italy had in the semi-final and quarter-final respectively. However, Wales did get awarded a penalty stroke in the 11th minute which Captain Benjamin Francis converted with aplomb.
Poland continued to defend penalty corners well and goalkeeper Mateusz Popiolowski repelled repeated Welsh attacks. Poland were awarded a penalty corner on the stroke of half-time. The first effort was blocked at the expense of a second one by the Wales defense. The second one struck Owen Sutton, the first runner for Wales, and there was another penalty corner awarded. This one was retaken as one of the defenders broke too soon. The final penalty corner for Poland Toby Reynolds-Cotterill saved and the Wales defence cleared it to touch. Half time saw Wales still lead 1-0.
But as things turned out this was to be a classic game of two halves. Poland had a bit more of a cutting edge after the break launching counter attacks which produced dividends. Robert Pawlak equalised for the Poles in the 37th minute converting a penalty corner. This made it 1-1 and then in the 51st minute Tomasz Bembenek scored a second penalty corner for Poland to give them a lead.
Wales responded and in the final minute forced multiple penalty corners. The first one was saved by Mateusz Poipolowski who was voted goalkeeper of the tournament, at the expense of another penalty corner. The second was also saved by him. As was a third which was eventually cleared and in the last action of the game Poland managed to block a shot on the line as the final hooter sounded. Poland world ranked #28 were the winners and will be on their way to Germany for the A Division European Championships.
Player of the tournament was Ireland’s Daragh Walsh and the top scorer award went to Alistair Empey of Ireland.
