Men's Hockey:Ireland's breezed past Chile 3-0 at Belfield this evening to leave themselves in pole position in the Olympic Qualification tournament. The hosts will go the final pool game against Malaysia on Saturday afternoon requiring just a draw to earn a place in the decider against Korea.
Win that, and a place at the London 2012 Games awaits.
Ireland went about their business with quite confidence this evening, enjoying the better of a tight first half and getting their reward after just six minutes when Tim Cockram flicked the ball home.
Michael Watt doubled Ireland's lead eight minutes into the second half after a mazy run across the face of goal and the same player made the points safe when finishing off a nice move involving Cockram and John Jermyn.
Korea had virtually assured their place in the final earlier in the day with a 3-2 win over Malaysia. Only the tournament winners earn a guaranteed place at the Olympics and Ireland, ranked 16, have never previously qualified.
Ireland:D Harte, R Gormley, P Gleghorne, S Loughrey, E Magee, J Jackson ©, M Watt, M Darling, T Cockram. Rolling subs -J Jermyn, C Cargo, P Carruth, A McConnell, I Sloan.
Chile:M Anwandter, A Fuenzalida, J Zirpel, P Purgel, J Zarhi, C Rodriquez ©, M Rodriquez, A Berzcely, S Richter, F Binder, J Richter. Rolling subs -F MonteguI Gajardo, P Kohler, J Berczely, R Achondo.
Today’s results
Ireland 3 Chile 0
Russia 2 Ukraine 0
Korea 3 Malaysia 2