HOCKEY/World Cup qualifiers/New Zealand - 2 Ireland - 1: Ireland had to be satisfied with an eighth-place finish at the World Cup qualifying tournament in Rome last night as New Zealand gained some consolation for being held scoreless by Riet Kuper's side in the preliminary stages of the competition.
As expected there was a sense of anti-climax about the occasion although Ireland performed with commendable spirit despite the rigorous toll of playing five matches in the space of six days.
The first half was largely devoid of incident illustrated by the fact neither side was able to force a penalty corner or a decent save from the respective goal keepers. However, the game sprung to life nine minutes after the restart as Stacey Carr put the Kiwis in front when she beat Irish goalkeeper Angela Platt with a rising shot
Within a minute Ireland were level when Eimear Cregan drove a loose ball high into the net to double her tournament tally.
With 13 minutes remaining Clarissa Eshuis plundered the winner when her penalty corner effort was deflected off Platt and into the net
When the dust settles the burning issue will be Kuper's future in a post she has occupied since supervising Ireland in a European Nations Cup qualifying tournament in Helsinki in 1998.
"Now is not the time to make a decision about my future," she said. "I will think about it and let the Irish Hockey Association know if I want to stay on - or not as the case may be."
Kuper is envious of the professional approach to the sport in her homeland where sponsors and the Dutch Olympic Council lend financial support to national hockey squad members.
"Many of them are students and most of those who aren't are employed for two or three days a week by sponsors like Rabobank. The Olympic council make up the deficit so the players aren't out of pocket," she explained.
"It would be great if ESB (the Irish women's teams' sponsor) could introduce a similar scheme in Ireland for our players.
"We had a short build up for Rome - we need more time with the players if we are to compete at the top level. I'm not talking about a couple of trips away but bringing the players together for six months on a full-time basis before major tournaments."
This laudable idea assumes Ireland would have the basic prerequisite of quality players in every sector if they are to compete on an equal footing with the top nations, only a few of which, by definition, were at the World Cup qualifying tournament.
Based on the evidence in Rome Ireland have a world-class goalkeeper in Platt, quality defenders in Ciara O'Brien and Jill Orbinson, along with an inspirational captain in Linda Caulfield.
At the other end of the pitch, though, Ireland's lack of a natural goalscorer was again exposed as only four goals were scored in 490 minutes of hockey. Not a single penalty corner was converted - a damning statistic when set-pieces are so important.
While a greater degree of professionalism might not be a panacea it would certainly help. Whether Kuper is there to see it happens remains to be seen.
Results: 11th-12th place play-off - Ukraine 5 Italy 0; 9th-10th - Azerbaijan 3 Scotland 2; 7th-8th - New Zealand 2 Ireland 1.
Today's programme: 3rd-4th place play-off - Japan v USA; 5th-6th - France v China; Final - England v Korea.
