Ireland’s women missed out on series success against higher-ranked Scotland but will take huge confidence from their first home international series into next month’s European Championships in Spain.
Following Tuesday evening’s loss, they bounced back to win game two at the Antrim Forum in resounding fashion with Chloe Brown netting five times in an 8-3 victory while Lily Lloyd landed a hat-trick, too.
While that scoreline was comprehensive, the win owed much to an Emma Buckley penalty stroke save with the game very much in the mix at 5-3.
From a potential 5-4, Ireland scored twice in 30 seconds to suddenly lead 7-3 and get the win on the board.
It set up a winner-takes-all battle in game three with Ireland edging in front again with Amy Benson’s sublime hat-trick putting them 4-2 up early in the second half.
But Scotland - nine places above Ireland the rankings - ground away with two penalty corner goals from Emily Dark getting them level and Charlotte Watson’s close-range finish looked to be enough to win it.
Irish captain Orla Fox, though, equalised in the closing minute for 5-5, sending the series down to a shoot-out to decide the winners. There, Scotland were faultless in attack and Carmin Dow made the crucial save.
“I don’t know what we were expecting but the first indoor games in 34 years, we will look back on this in a few weeks and it will be really positive. It was annoying to lose on shootouts but we progressed really well throughout the series.” Buckley reflected on a dramatic week, citing the second game as one to take a lot from.
“With indoor, you can score in a matter of seconds. It just worked out we scored two goals straight after that save. The girls kept pushing and to get eight goals against a side ranked eight places above us is fantastic.
“The Euros are coming up pretty quickly and we have Scotland in our opening game! It’s something to really look forward to.”
On the men’s side, Kenny Carroll’s side came much closer than day one’s 7-3 loss but Scotland had the smarts down the closing stretch each time to grab a clean sweep.
Wednesday’s first game was a 5-4 outcome with Cameron Golden and Gordon Amour scoring a brace each with Ollie Kidd replying with a hat trick for Ireland.
Game three is the one Ireland will rue as the major missed opportunity. They led 5-2 and 7-5 at different times, carrying that two-goal advantage into the last five minutes.
But Jamie Golden had the midas touch once again, scoring three more goals - ending with five to his name in total - with two of them coming in the closing 30 seconds to win it 8-7.
