There was never going to be an easy draw. What the Irish women’s hockey team hoped for was a favourable draw against a slew of top world teams in Pool A of the women’s tournament at the Tokyo Olympics next summer. Coach Sean Dancer and his team will have mixed feelings about their schedule, which was drawn in Japan on Tuesday.
At least the historic first game that an Irish women’s hockey team plays in an Olympic Games is against South Africa, a team Ireland know they have a good chance of beating. Placed 16th in the current world rankings to Ireland’s eighth, the issue of strong start is important in how the side face into what will be the toughest week in their history.
In all Ireland play five matches between two Saturdays next July and August, beginning against South Africa on July 25th and finishing out their pool against Great Britain on Saturday August 1st. Sandwiched between the two weekends Ireland face world number one side and world champions the Netherlands in their second match, Germany, ranked four in the world, in their third match and finally India and Britain, who are the current Olympic Champions from Rio 2016.
India, ranked at nine in the world, are one place below Ireland. In that scenario Ireland must target the two teams ranked below them – South Africa and India – and hope to engage on a giant-killing spree as they did in the World Cup in London 2018, where they improbably reached the final after shootouts in the quarter-final and semi-final.
Momentum is the key in tournament hockey, when games are compressed into a heavy five match pool schedule and where the teams with greater squad depth will fare better. The gold medal winners in Tokyo must play eight international matches over two weeks.
For Ireland that means an opening win against South Africa, who finished 15th in the last World Cup, is a must before they face the Dutch, who are out on their own as the best side in the world. Ireland’s 6-0 defeat in the World Cup final will have hurt. But a win in the first outing will ensure the Netherlands not only meet a winning side but also a relatively fresh group in the second match.
Germany in the third match will depend on how the opening two games pan out. The Germans will expect to win it but have not been as ruthless as the Dutch. With a day’s rest before meeting India the optimists will believe Dancer and his squad could be in reasonable condition for India and Britain.
The obvious factor is Ireland must improve their performance if they are to mount a serious challenge to upset that status quo. Emotionally charged as their shootout win over Canada was over the two recent Olympic qualifying legs in Energia Park, the team were not impressive during normal playing time. There wasn’t enough cohesion to hold the ball, not enough firepower evident up front or scoring chances created.
Much of that would have come from the changes this year with World Cup coach Graham Shaw leaving to take over at New Zealand, who have qualified in the other pool to Ireland. The teams now won’t face each other unless they meet in a crossover match.
By July that upheaval will have passed. But Dancer has a job to do to make his entire squad tournament ready. An opening game against the lowest ranked team in Pool ‘A’ is probably all he could have asked for. Now he has it.
Dancer has also selected his first squad of 2020 for a trip to South Africa in January where Ireland will play the hosts and Germany.
Ireland squad to face South Africa and Germany in January
A McFerran, E Buckley, R Upton, N Evans, K Mullan (C), S McKay, E Tice, E Beatty, B Barr, S Barr, C Watkins, L Colvin, H Matthews, S Hawkshaw, A O’Flanagan, D Duke, E Curran, E Murphy, H McLoughlin, S Torrans
Schedule
Pool A :Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, India, South Africa
Pool B: Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Spain, China, Japan
Irish Schedule (all Irish Times ):
July 25th – Ireland v South Africa (1.15 pm)
July 27th – Ireland v Netherlands (2.00 am)
July 29th – Ireland v Germany (4.15 am)
July 31st – Ireland v India (3.45 am)
August 1st – Ireland v Great Britain (12.45 pm)
