Ireland 1 Australia 2
An impressive defensive performance from Ireland was not enough to keep an attacking Australian side from earning their second win of the Olympic men’s hockey Pool B at Stade du Yves Manoir on Monday morning.
That makes it two wins from two for the third-ranked Australians and two defeats for Ireland after they lost in their first outing to Olympic champions Belgium on Saturday.
Ireland, who have a world ranking of 11, held Australia scoreless in the second half with all the goals coming in the first 30 minutes.
Australia, a hard running, attacking side, opened the scoring from their first penalty corner on nine minutes after the ball found a foot in the Irish circle. The initial Australian strike rebounded hard off the post and Corey Weyer was sharpest to it, flicking the ball high into the Irish net from close range.
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David Harte produced another strong performance in the Irish goal with some robust and precise tackling from Ireland occasionally frustrating the Australians.
A Jonathan Lynch backhand shot hit an Australian foot in the 25th minute and Ireland stepped up for their first real chance at a penalty corner. The ball went to Lee Cole whose well directed shot was on target and to the left of goalkeeper Andrew Charter and the game was level.
Australia continued to create more chances but Ireland were not wanting going forward, although the final shot and pass was occasionally not as well executed as they would have liked.
What transpired to be the winning goal came just before the interval. Australia earned their fourth penalty corner and won a retake when their strike hit an Irish defender’s leg. On the second effort a strong and accurate flick hit Cole on the line. There was little the Irish defender could have done such was the speed of the ball and the umpire rightly gave Australia a penalty. Blake Govers converted for 2-1 and the hooter sounded for half-time.
Ireland successfully defended a slew of penalty corners, four of them in a seven-minute spell in the second period, with the collective Irish defence and Harte in goal sharp in the circle.
Tom Wickham cleaned up after a Harte save for what looked like Australia’s third goal but an Irish challenge was successful and the goal disallowed. The game ended with both sides attacking in turn but to no effect.
All in all it was a better performance from Ireland but a disappointing outcome with India up next on Tuesday.
“I think we’re frustrated not to get a result there but plenty of positives,” said Irish captain Sean Murray afterwards.
“Can’t dwell on it. After the Belgian game we wanted to create a few more chances and we did that. We created lots in the first half and some in the second half that just didn’t fall for us.”
“It’s frustrating. We changed a few things, played a little bit higher up, we’ve a few dangerous players and tried to get them on the ball a little more and I think it worked. Credit to Australia, they are a top side and defended really well.”
Ireland: D Harte, T Cross, J McKee, L Cole, D Walsh, K Marshall, S O’Donoghue, S Murray ©, J Duncan, M Robson, B Walker. Rolling subs: M Nelson, P McKibbin, J Lynch, P Brown, B Johnson.
Australia: A Charter, T Craig, T Wickham, N Ephraums, J Beltz, E Ockenden, A Zalewski ©, K Willott, F Ogilvie, J Hayward. Rolling subs: L Sharp, J Harvie, M Dawson, B Govers, T Brand.
