Ireland 10 Singapore 0
At the rate Ireland are going, they’ll have scored more goals in the World League 2 in Kuala Lumpur by the time they’re done than they have in the bulk of their international history.
Singapore are the latest nation to have been clobbered by Graham Shaw’s side, a 10-0 quarter-final victory setting up a meeting with Wales in the last four.
That’s 34 goals Ireland have now amassed in four games, all against Asian opposition, Malaysia the only side so far to score against them.
Anna O’Flanagan brought her personal tally to 10 goals with a hat-trick, a feat matched by Roisin Upton, her second the 50th of her international career.
Similar ordeal
With 92 per cent of the possession, Ireland scored five in each half, three of them coming in the space of three minutes before the break, Singapore enduring a similar ordeal early in the second half when they conceded in the 43rd, 45th and 46th minutes.
Naomi Carroll, Rebecca Barry, Nicci Daly and Katie Mullan added to O’Flanagan and Upton’s trebles to complete the scoring.
“It’s very difficult to play hockey against a team with all 11 players inside the circle,” said Shaw after the game, but once his side unlocked the Singapore defence, there was no stopping them.
Wales might have proved to be tricky enough opponents for Ireland on occasions in the past, but they only managed to scrape past a Kazakhstan side (2-1) in the quarter-finals that Ireland beat 12-0 in the pool.
They’re ranked 16 places below Ireland in the world list, at 32, so barring the mother of all surprises, Sunday’s final should pair the Irish with Italy. They beat Hong Kong 7-0 to reach the semi-finals where they will play hosts Malaysia.
IRELAND: A McFerran, C Sargent, N Evans, K Mullan, S McCay, C Watkins, L Colvin, N Daly, H Matthews, A O'Flanagan, Z Wilson. Subs: C Cassin, Y O'Byrne, E Tice, N Carroll, G Pinder, R Upton, R Barry.
