Hockey International friendlyIreland 2 Belgium 4 Belgium turned up at Grange Road last night a man down after only 10 players made it to their flight to Dublin, but they still managed to defeat Ireland 4-2.
Belgium took the lead after 10 minutes when captain Loic Vandeweghe drilled reverse stick from the edge of the circle past Wesley Bateman.
Jean-Philippe Brule then flicked from the counter attacking Belgium's first short corner for a 2-0 lead.
Forced to work harder, Belgium left Ireland with the ball but there was little early penetration from the hosts; Stephen Butler slotting in Ireland's second corner on 28 minutes with a low drag flick to close the gap.
Butler equalised, again from a corner on 41 minutes as Ireland pressed. But it took Bateman with a spectacular hand save to keep the hosts from again trailing early in the second half before Jerome Truyens and Brule again fired in corners for 4-2 to end a hugely disappointing night for Ireland.
IRELAND: W Bateman, S Nicholson, J Black, K Burns, R Gormley, S Butler, D Hobbs, G Shaw, T Cockram, E Magee, J Sherriff. Rolling subs: A Barbour M Black, D Bane, P Maguire, D Eakins.
