No joy for gutsy Ireland against mighty Dutch

DESPITE a gutsy defensive showing, Ireland women’s hockey team shipped a 4-0 defeat against Netherlands in their second outing at the Olympics in Tokyo this morning.

Up against a side that is strongly tipped to top the podium at this tournament, Sean Dancer’s side found themselves only a goal adrift up until the closing quarter during which Malou Pheninckx, Laurien Leurink and Frédérique Matla all hit the target to put the result beyond doubt.

It was Felice Albers who opened the Dutch account just eight minutes in when she was located unmarked in the circle and demonstrated fine composure to take the ball by goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran before steering home.

Ireland had been buoyed by their 2-0 triumph over South Africa in their opening Pool A match on Saturday, but were up against a completely different calibre of opposition this morning, one that threatened a rout from early on as McFerran was called into action to deny both Margot van Geffen and Matla before the deadlock was eventually broken.

Certainly McFerran was kept on her toes in the Ireland goal, but Ireland held firm to remain in contention and even when the Irish goalkeeper was beaten, Sarah McAuley and Lena Tice were on hand to make goal line clearances.

Both sides were temporarily down a player after Leurink and Ireland and Loreto player Hannah Matthews were both shown a green card in quick succession.

Yet Ireland’s hopes of salvaging something from this tie were effectively eroded when Pheninckx followed up on a penalty corner that cannoned back off the framework and tucked it away before Leurink and Matla also found the target.

Unhinging the Number One side was always likely to prove a tall order for Ireland, but they will be hoping to bounce back in what will be another very tough tie against Germany on Wednesday morning at 4.15am.