The Irish women’s hockey team are 60 minutes away from mixing it with the sport’s elite in next year’s FIH Pro League after they reached the final of the Nations Cup in Spain on Saturday by beating New Zealand 2-1.
It was their first victory over New Zealand, ranked two places above them at 10 in the world list, since one by the same scoreline in Wellington 16 years ago, goals from Sarah Hawkshaw and Sarah Torrans sealing the triumph after Ireland had gone a goal behind.
Goalkeeper Liz Murphy twice denied Rose Tynan in the 35th minute before it was a case of third time lucky for the New Zealand forward, but Hawkshaw had Ireland level within four minutes when she completed a well-worked short corner routine by turning home Katie Mullan’s pass.
And the Railway Union player was the creator for the winning goal nine minutes from time when she cut into the circle from the right, her cross deflected by Torrans past goalkeeper Brooke Roberts. New Zealand responded by withdrawing Roberts and playing with 11 outfield players, but they couldn’t find a way through the Irish defence.
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It was a huge win for the team which lost a raft of experience before the tournament with the retirements of Deirdre Duke, Anna O’Flanagan and Chloe Watkins, and are without the injured Ayeisha McFerran, their long-time first choice goalkeeper. It’s a considerable feather in the cap too for interim coach Facu Quirorga who stepped into the role after Sean Dancer left the position in March.
Sunday evening’s final will, though, be a mountainous challenge, hosts Spain, ranked seven in the world, the opponents in Terrassa after their 2-1 semi-final win over Chile. They swept Ireland aside last Monday with a 5-1 win in their pool meeting, and so will be firm favourites to seal FIH Pro League qualification.
But Ireland rebounded from that thumping with 3-0 and 4-0 wins over Italy and Korea to earn their semi-final spot, so they shouldn’t be short of confidence. “We knew that wasn’t the real Ireland that showed up in the opening game with Spain, and that performance was not going to define us in this tournament,” said Hawkshaw. “We’ve learned a lot since then.” Those lessons will need to be applied, in spades, on Sunday evening.
Ireland: L Murphy, L Neill, S McAuley, R Upton, E Curran, S Torrans, C Beggs, K McKee, M Carey, N Carroll, K Mullan (capt). Subs used: H McLoughlin, C Perdue, S Hawkshaw, C Hamill, N Carey, S O’Brien.
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