Ireland get off the mark at Hockey World Cup with win over South Africa

Ireland 2 (S Hawkshaw, R Upton), South Africa 0

After the disappointment of their pool campaign, which saw them finish bottom after three defeats, Ireland finally registered their first win at the World Cup on Sunday when they beat South Africa 2-0 in Amsterdam to move in to the ninth to 12th place play-offs.

Penalty corner goals from Sarah Hawkshaw in the 19th minute and Roisin Upton a minute in to the second half secured the win against opponents they beat by the same scoreline at the Olympics last summer.

Ireland finish their tournament on Tuesday with a game against the winners of Sunday afternoon’s meeting of China and Chile, with a chance of finishing ninth overall, three places above their current world ranking.

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They were on top from the off against South Africa who had only 24 hours to recover from their 1-0 defeat by Germany, compared to the three days Ireland had to recuperate after the end of their pool campaign.

Refreshed, then, they played with an energy their opponents couldn’t match, winning seven penalty corners in the first half and having six shots on goal compared to South Africa’s one.

It was from the third of those corners that the opening goal came, a perfectly executed one it was too with Hannah McLoughlin’s strike deflected home by Sarah Hawkshaw on the right post.

Minutes later, Sarah Torrans almost repeated the trick, this time from her left post position, but her deflection hit the outside of the post.

Ireland should have led by more than a single goal at the break, but just a minute in to the third quarter they doubled that lead after Torrans helped win another corner by stealing the South African tip-off. Upton duly stepped up and sent a drag-flick in to bottom left corner.

South Africa rallied briefly, having a two-player advantage for two minutes when Hawkshaw and Deirdre Duke were sinbinned, but they could find no way through a solid Irish defence.

Ireland earned more penalty corners in the final quarter, but failed to stretch their lead, but they’d done enough to secure their first win of the tournament.

Ireland: A McFerran, M Carey, R Upton, S Hawkshaw, K Mullan, H McLoughlin, S Torrans, L Tice, N Carroll, C Perdue, E Curran. Subs: S McAuley, Z Malseed, C Beggs, K McKee, D Duke, C Hamill, L Murphy.

South Africa: P Mbande, K Paton, O Zulu, L-M Deetlefs, E Christie, L du Plessis, B Coston, Q Bobbs, T Lombard. J-L du Toit, H Louw. Subs: E Molikoe, R Johnson, H Pearce, M Ramasimong, S-L Simmons, K de Waal, M Serage

Umpires: I Presenqui (Argentina), A Neumann (Australia).