HAVING lost 2-1 to Belarus in the 11th-12th place playoff in the Malaysian endurance test, the Irish hockey squad last night found solace in Finnegans of Bangsar Baru (Kuala Lumpur's Temple Bar).
The Belarussians, having exhausted their funds, headed straight to the airport, relieved to have gained their first win in this World Cup qualifying (and non-qualifying) tournament after six successive defeats. It was a close call in catching their only flight connection to Minsk in the next four days, and had the match gone into extra time, or indeed a shoot-out, they might well have forfeited the verdict to Ireland.
After a totally lethargic first hall, with the temperature a sizzling 99 F, Ireland somehow managed to generate sufficient energy to dominate the second period. Although trailing 2-0 at the interval, it seemed that they were capable of recovering, as they had done in the final pool match on Monday when they took the points with a 3-2 victory. But the Belarussians packed their defence this time and kept the Irish attackers sufficiently out of range.
Several last-ditch interventions by Ivan Bateman had prevented the arrears being more demoralising in the opening half. He was beaten only by a deflected short corner from Vladimir Kachkar after a quarter of an hour, and had no chance when Igor Voitiouk drove through to unleash an unstoppable shot in the 32nd minute.
While Neil Cooke, David McAnulty, Lee Tumilty and Daniel Clarke (in his 90th international) were particularly active in the Irish revival, the only reply came nine minutes after half-time when Julian Stevenson got the touch to a ball driven into the goalmouth by McAnulty.
Frustratingly, six short corners brought no reward, it being particularly unfortunate that, following one set-piece, Stevenson found the net, only for the whistle to have gone to signal another corner.
Canada settled an old score when they defeated Malaysia 3,1, to win the fifth position in the classification tie.
Canada, who suffered a 1-4 defeat to the home team in the preliminary round last week, produced an encouraging performance to tear down Malaysia's defence in the first half.
Peter Milkovich scored twice for Canada when he scooped penalty corners in the second and 27th minute, while the other goal was contributed by Robin D'Abreo in the 30th minute.
Malaysia replied with its solidarity goal through M Kaliswaran in the 22nd minute.
. Ireland's under-18 hockey side had a more heartening day than their seniors in Kuala Lumpur when they beat Scotland 3-1 in their opening game in defence of the Home Countries Championship at Milton Keynes yesterday. England's challenge, however, is bound to be substantial, for they overwhelmed Wales, 11-1.
The Scots started strongly, taking an early lead through Andrew Sewnauth. But Cliff Bailey equalised following a well-worked short corner in the 23rd minute.
Ireland, with Andrew Chambers being especially resolute, established their superiority in the second half. Set-piece specialist Stephen Butler drove home the second goal shortly after the interval and Justin Sherriff sealed the issue with a deft deflection in the 48th minute.
In the under-16 competition, the Irish team, though two down, after 10 minutes, fought back to draw 2-2 with the Scots. Ian Hutchinson and Chris Barnes were Ireland's marksmen.
