4 Nations Tournament Valencia
Ireland 1 (Sothern)
Netherlands 7 (de Voogd, van Dam, van der Weerden x2, Hertzberger, Brinkman, Kemperman)
2 field goals in the opening quarter gave the world number 4 Netherlands early confidence. Bob de Voogd led a pacey counter attacked and put his side in the lead in the 6th minute. On the cusp of quartet time Thijs van Dam doubled his sides’ tally with a well worked attack along the left baseline. But the Green Machine quickly settled and Shane O’Donoghue created Ireland’s first solid chance on the counter but Sam van der Ven made a strong save. Matthew Nelson and Jeremy Duncan were next to test the Dutch resolve with the former’s shot just skimming over the bar while the later led a superb attack that saw a goal disallowed on the cusp of half time.
The game looked to have settled into a more even affair but in the 37th minute a nice move led to a penalty corner for the Netherlands and Mink van der Weerden sent a powerful drag flick high into the net. The Dutch took advantage of another opportunity as they picked up a saved Irish shot and countered at speed to earn a penalty corner, this time Jereon Hertzberger sent one of his trademark drag flicks goal bound. But the Green Machine continued to create opportunities and Alan Sothern won a penalty corner for his side moments later, but the effort couldn’t trouble van der Ven. Van der Weerden got his second from a penalty corner routine and less than a minute later Thierry Brinkman sent a powerful backhand into the goal. Robert Kemperman rounded out the scoring for the Dutch in the 51st minute with a well worked field goal. The Green Machine continued to pressure the Dutch and Sothern got his team on the board with a penalty corner strike in the 56th minute.
Starting: D Harte (captain), J Bell, C Cargo, M Nelson, A Sothern, S O’Donoghue, M Darling, M Robson, C Harte, L Cole, S Loughrey
Subs: M Bell, E Magee, K Shimmins, S Murray, D Fitzgerald, P Gleghorne, J Duncan
4 Nations Tournament Valencia:
29/10 16:30 Ireland 2vs1 England
29/10 18:30 Spain 2vs1 Netherlands
30/10 16:30 Netherlands 2vs1 England
30/10 18:30 Spain 1vs0 Ireland
01/11 16:30 Ireland 1vs7 Netherlands
01/11 18:30 Spain – England
03/11 10:00 1st vs 4th
03/11 12:30 2nd vs 3rd
04/11 10:00 3rd vs 4th
04/11 12:30 Final
Ireland Hockey Press Release
