Ireland’s women won gold in the second tier of the EuroHockey Indoor Championship in Galway on Sunday with a 5-1 win over Lithuania, the team also securing promotion to the top flight of the European competition.
After wins over Sweden (7-2), Croatia (5-1) and Portugal (9-1) and a 5-5 draw with Slovakia in the opening two days, Ireland needed to beat Lithuania to overtake them at the top of the table.
Two goals apiece from Orla Fox and Chloe Brown, with another from Milla Fulton, secured that victory. Ireland came from a goal down and took full advantage of their opponents going a player down after Dovile Juraite received a yellow card, scoring their final three goals in a three-minute spell during her absence.
Over in India, Ireland’s men were no match for the Netherlands, the world’s number one side, in their first ever Pro League game, the Dutch running out 5-1 winners in Bhubaneswar. A 36th-minute penalty stroke by Lee Cole, when Ireland were 3-0 down, proved to be just a consolation score.
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The task won’t get a whole lot easier in the days ahead, Australia (on Tuesday), Spain (Thursday) and India (Friday), all ranked in the top 10, Ireland’s next opponents. The tournament then switches to Rourkela in India where Ireland will play the same four nations again, starting on February 19th.
