Australia 4 Ireland 1
Ireland’s first potential route to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 was firmly closed in Antwerp on Wednesday as world number one side Australia ran out 4-1 winners in their World League Round 3 quarter-final.
For a long time, Matt Gohdes’s goal was all that stood between the Kookaburras and Craig Fulton’s Irish team. Had Alan Sothern’s juggling act seen the ball slip just inside the post instead of 20 centimetres off target, things could have been different.
But Australia always had the class. Five time world player of the year Jamie Dwyer killed off the game a minute after Sothern's big chance, jinking in and out of two players on halfway to instigate a move and subsequently roared into the circle to deflect home the final touch of a scintillating team move.
It was a microcosm of the difference between the teams, the breathtaking accuracy at speed that Australia could conjure while Ireland’s chances were fleeting and snatched.
Simon Orchard and Blake Govers netted in the final five minutes as Ireland were opened up, chasing the game, to give the scoreline an unfair gloss, something only partially tempered by Shane O'Donoghue's third goal of the tournament in the 59th minute.
David Harte said of the performance: "The team effort we put in against the world number one side is something we can be incredibly proud of but the scoreline did us no favours."
After the match, Fulton expressed mixed emotions at the final result: “I’m incredibly proud of the performance today, at the same time we’re all very disappointed because we believed we could get a result.
“We won four corners at crucial times and we played well to get those but we weren’t clinical enough. That said, it was a fantastic effort on everyone’s part in the heat today against the world number ones. We look forward to the next game and finishing as high as we possibly can in this tournament”.
Nonetheless, Fulton’s side put in a defiant performance, creating some big chances and defending stoutly for the first three quarters. With Paul Gleghorne, John Jackson and Ronan Gormley to the fore, Ireland clogged up the middle of the pitch and made things difficult for the Aussies to break down.
On the counter, their chances were rare but clear-cut. Peter Caruth’s right wing cross was just intercepting by an out-lying stick before Mitch Darling could tip in.
Four penalty corners were also forthcoming while Sothern had a goal disallowed – correctly – when his miscued shot bounced over Andrew Charter.
Australia, though, always had some invention up their sleeve and it eventually paid dividends to shake off the side ranked 13 places below them.
Nonetheless, it will steel Ireland for a dogfight for fifth place in the competition in the coming days. If they can win their next two games, Olympic qualification looks more than likely. Friday is the first phase of that process, taking on the world number 10 side Pakistan.
IRELAND: D Harte, J Jackson, J Bell, R Gormley, M Watt, C Cargo, P Caruth, S O'Donoghue, M Darling, K Good, P Gleghorne. Subs: A Sothern, S Dowds, E Magee, K Shimmins, D Carlisle.
AUSTRALIA: A Charter, J Dwyer, S Orchard, C Ciriello, M Knowles, J Whetton, A Zalewski, T White, T Deavin, K Govers, F Kavanagh. Subs: E Ockenden, B Govers, M Gohdes, M Swann, D Beale, T Lovell, K Brown.
