Ireland 1 China 3
Ireland’s disappointing World Cup campaign came to an end with a 3-1 defeat by China in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the result leaving the 2018 silver medalists having to settle for a share of 11th place overall.
They were playing catch-up from the seventh minute when Chen Yang opened the scoring from a penalty corner, one of 11 China earned through the game compared to Ireland’s four, but it wasn’t until the final 10 minutes that they pulled away, scoring twice more before Michelle Carey’s late consolation goal.
Siofra O’Brien became the fifth Irish player to make her official debut during the tournament, the Loreto forward coming in for the injured Caoimhe Perdue, while Ayeisha McFerran won her 118th cap to join Emma Gray at the top of the most capped Irish female goalkeeper list.
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McFerran was kept busy enough by the opposition, although she was well protected by her defence at corners, Sarah Torrans once again getting blocks on a string of shots.
While China had the better of the game, Ireland created their fair share of chances too, Deirdre Duke testing goalkeeper Liu Ping with a powerful drive, Ping also saving smartly from a Roisin Upton drag. They had the ball in the net too, but Naomi Carroll was adjudged to have turned it home with her body rather than her stick.
It was when they were down to 10 players, after Sarah McAuley was sin-binned, that Ireland saw the game slip away, China scoring twice in three final quarter minutes. Zhong Jiaji converted a penalty corner before Chen Yanhua swept home Zhang Xindan’s through-ball.
Carey got some reward for her own tireless work-rate when she deflected Upton’s corner strike through the legs of Ping, but with only two minutes left on the clock, it was too little, too late.
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The one consolation for coach Sean Dancer was that the team at least finished above its pre-tournament world ranking of 12, while he will also take heart from the fact that so many young players were blooded in the tournament, giving them valuable experience for the challenges ahead.
And the next one is only five weeks away, when the team hosts a European Championship qualifier in Dublin. That should be a much more comfortable test, with the other three nations in the line-up - the Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey - ranked well below them.
Ireland: A McFerran, M Carey, R Upton, S Hawkshaw, K Mullan, H McLoughlin, S Torrans, L Tice, N Carroll, S O’Brien, E Curran. Subs: S McAuley, Z Malseed, C Beggs, K McKee, D Duke, C Hamill, L Murphy.
China: L Ping, Q Cui, Y Gu, M Liang, X Zhang, J Zheng, N Wang, H Yang, Y Chen, T Luo, J Zhong. Subs: B Gu, J Li, N Ma, X Zhang, M Yuan, Y Chen, X Li.
Umpires: E Yamada (Japan) and A Rostron (South Africa).
