Women's Hockey: There was no divine intervention for Ireland after their audience with the Pope at the Vatican, as a 6-0 drubbing from China put an end to hopes of World Cup qualification in Rome.
Riet Kuper's side went into today's game with a slim chance of grabbing the final berth in the finals at the expense of the highly-rated Chinese, but hope was fading early on when Zho Wan Feng found a way past Angela Platt in the 24th minute.
Ireland had barely reorganised when two minutes later Chen Zhao Xia's short corner shot rebounded of Jill Orbison to double China's lead going into the break.
China continued their dominance in the second half and Ma Yi Bo's 39th minutes drag flick into the top right-hand corner put the result beyond doubt.
In a ten minute blitz goals from Chen, Gao Li Hua and Song Qing Ling made it six and against an Irish defence that had only been breached twice in five games.
Ireland now face a 7th/8th place play-off with either New Zealand or France.