Men's Hockey:Ireland's bid for a place at next summer's London Games received a huge boost at UCD this evening as the home side fought out a 1-1 draw with favourites Korea in the Electric Ireland Olympic qualifying tournament.
With only one place up for grabs at the end of the tournament, and the top two sides in the table meeting in the final, Ireland’s campaign now hinges on Saturday’s meeting with Malaysia.
And although the Malaysians will present a stern challenge Ireland will go into that match full of confidence after Paul Paul Revington’s team held out for a draw with a Korean side ranked sixth in the world.
Ireland took the lead in the 28th minute at Belfield from a short coner when Tim Cokram fed the ball to David Ames who fired home. That lead lasted until seven minutes into the second half as substitute Woo Nam beat David Harte in the Irish goal with a well struck shot.
Ireland did live on their nerves at time, collecting five cards in total to hand the Koreans the numerical advantage, but remain fully on course to reach the final. Next up is a match the would expect to win against China on Thursday before Saturday afternoon’s pivotal clash with Malaysia.