Andrew Meredith admitted his frustration as his men’s Irish side came within a few minutes of the biggest result in the country’s history in the European Championships top tier. Rob Kemperman’s beautiful reverse-stick goal saw the Olympic silver medallists the Netherlands scrape to victory in Boom, Belgium, last night in a thrill-a-minute tie.
It saw them come back from an early deficit to grind out a 2-1 win against an Irish side ranked 12 places below them in the world. Shane O’Donoghue’s superb low drag flick put Ireland in the front in the 18th minute, a lead they held until the 31st minute when Mink van der Weerden did likewise.
From there, the game was very even in the second-half initially with the Dutch struggling to get by the tackling of Conor Harte and Ronan Gormley.
In midfield, diminutive teenager Peter Brown sprayed passes around while Mitch Darling and Mikey Watt were tireless up front. David Harte kept out six penalty corners while Constantijn Jonker missed an open goal chance. Ireland also went close through Chris Cargo while Kyle Good's lightning pace and strength drew the best of Jaap Stockmann.
Superb backhand
But Kemperman won it with a superb backhand shot with time running out and Ireland's hopes of bouncing back were curtailed by Stephen Cole's yellow card. No points for performances though and O'Donoghue said it was key that the level of performance remains against Poland today.
“The Dutch had to push themselves to the limit and it’s a good foundation for us,” he said. “We have done our background research on them but we have to match that intensity against Poland.”
Meredith, meanwhile, added: “It was the toughest test we could have to start off and I’m really proud of the effort. It is frustrating because we created enough danger to get a result.”
The focus remains reaching the semi-finals for the first time and wins over Poland today and England on Wednesday will more than likely see the side through.
Earlier, Alex Speers played a captain’s role as her pair of goals helped the Ireland women’s team cling on for a 3-2 win over Belarus, a result that will allow Darren Smith’s side a straight shot at a semi-final berth.
Despite a rough 6-0 loss to the Netherlands on Saturday in their opening tie, Ireland are very much alive in the pool as a result of the Belarussian win. Should they repeat the trick against Belgium tomorow evening in Boom, a first ever final four berth will more than likely be assured.
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