IRELAND 0 GERMANY 3
June 5th, London: Ireland made three changes in their starting line up in their second FIH Pro League game against Germany at Lee Valley in the London Stage. Lee Cole and Peter McKibbin returned in defence and David Harte started in goal. Historically Germany and Ireland have met before this match on 17 occasions with Germany winning 13 and Ireland winning 4.
A scoreless first half saw Ireland go in at half-time 0-0. Germany took the lead when they were awarded a penalty stroke which Timm Herzbruch converted in the 36th minute. Gonzalo Peillat converted a penalty corner in the 43rd minute to make it 2-0 and a breakaway counter attack produced the third goal in the final minute from open play by Thies Prinz to make it 3-0 at the end of the match.
Both sides came out of the traps and had chances early in the first quarter. Germany’s Timm Herzbruch’s shot was blocked over the bar by Ireland goalkeeper David Harte in the 3rd minute and a few minutes later Ireland’s John McKee forced German goalkeeper Alexander Stadler to make a save at the opposite end of the field.
Ireland got the only penalty corner of the first quarter but Shane O’Donoghue’s drag flick inadvertently hit Moritz Ludwig and a free hit out to the Germans was the outcome. Ireland almost took the lead when a cross from Nick Page flashed across the face of the German goal towards Ben Johnson who failed to connect with it. Ben Walker flicked a shot just wide of the German goal two minutes later. Ireland did enjoy lots of possession but couldn’t score and it remained 0-0 until half-time.
In the third quarter things began to change. Moritz Ludwig, later chosen as player of the match, ran down the inside right channel and his shot was flicked over the bar by Malte Hellwig in the 31st minute.
Ireland won a penalty corner which appeared to be deflected over the bar by a German player but no long corner was awarded. In the 35th minute Ireland won another penalty corner Lee Cole’s initial drag flick was saved.
In the 36th minute Germany won their first penalty corner of the match. Gonzalo Peillat’s drag flick hit Kyle Marshall, who was guarding the post, on the arm, and a penalty stroke was the outcome. Timm Herzbruch made no mistake from 7 metres out; 1-0 to Germany.
Germany further increased their lead when Gonzalo Peillat converted a penalty corner with a rapid drag flick that flew past Lee Cole on the left hand post to make it 2-0. Germany looked to be getting another goal when Constantin Staib went on a run and put the ball in the net. Ireland asked for a video referral and the ruling was that Staib had used the backstick during the shot so the goal was overruled and Ireland kept their referral.
In the 58th minute Ireland were awarded a penalty corner. Lee Cole’s original drag flick was saved by Stadtler and Hannes Muller blocked the second effort. When Germany regained possession they launched a counter attack, Moritz Ludwig went on a run from deep in the German half and sent a ball through for Thies Prinz to score. His initial effort was saved by Harte but he put the rebound into the net and the match finished Germany 3 Ireland 0 .
After the game Ireland Head Coach Mark Tumilty said:
“I thought the performance was significantly better than the weekend performances against both teams. I thought in the first half we played some of our best hockey as a group. We probably left a few chances out there and that’s something we need to work on during the next 6-8 weeks as we head towards Paris. We don’t get many chances against teams of this calibre.
In the first half we created enough chances to score a couple of goals. But that’s probably been the difference between the top sides, they are more clinical. Great Britain had a similar chance to one we missed in the first 30 seconds against India and scored and were already 1-0 up. We cannot convert our chances.
For the third goal today, we were pushing forward to try and score ourselves. They were quick on the counter. It was a good move by them. David Harte did well to save the first shot but they put away the rebound and there it was 3-0. One minute to go, these things happen chasing the game. Have to recover, reset and prepare to face Great Britain tomorrow. Tough lesson for us again today.
We always look forward to playing against Great Britain. They are always excellent games and it’s a good challenge for ourselves. We understand the need to get three points so we can put some pressure on Spain ahead of their remaining games. We’ll put everything into tomorrow”
IRELAND :- David Harte (GK) ; Kyle Marshall ; Lee Cole; Nicholas Page; Peter McKibbin ; Sean Murray; Daragh Walsh ; Peter Brown; Ben Walker; Ben Johnson ; Matthew Nelson;
SUBS USED :- Tim Cross [ 4 mins] ; Jeremy Duncan [ 3 mins] ; John McKee [ 3 mins] ; Michael Robson [ 7 mins] ; Shane O’Donoghue [ 7 mins ] ; Jonathan Lynch [ 5 mins] ;
GERMANY : Alexander Stadler (GK) ; Thies Prinz; Johannes Grosse; Timm Herzbruch ; Gonzalo Peillat; Marco Miltkau; Hannes Muller; Mario Schachner ; Malte Hellwig ; Antheus Barry ; Moritz Ludwig ;
SUBS USED :- Raphael Hartkopf [ 6 mins] ; Constantin Staib [ 6 mins] ; Martin Zwicker (C) [ 3 mins] ; Erik Kleinlein [6 mins] ; Luca Wolff [ 6 mins ] ; Phillipp Holzmueller [ 6 mins] ;
