Sunday, August 23 – Wavre, Belgium: The Ireland Men’s Hockey Team have secured a first place finish in Pool H at the FIH Hockey World Cup, despite a 2-1 defeat to France in their final pool outing. Having beaten South Africa and Malaysia Ireland accrued enough points to secure top spot thanks to results elsewhere, guaranteeing Ireland a best-ever FIH Hockey World Cup finish. The side will face the winners of Pakistan or New Zealand on Friday, August 28.
Despite having already secured top spot in Pool H, there was still plenty of bragging righst on the line as Ireland met France, a side that have become something of a rival for Ireland in recent months.
A largely uneventful first half saw the sides size each other up as both went in search of a chink in their opposition’s armor, but chances were few are far between as the sides cancelled each other out.
A breakthrough finally came early in the second half as Jeremy Duncan picked the pocket of Eliot Curty, rounding the French goalkeeper and firing into the bottom corner on his reverse stick from a relatively tight angle.
France, however, responded. A venture into the Irish circle just three minutes later ended in a penalty corner which gave Victor Chalet the opportunity to fire powerfully into the bottom corner to draw level.
France remained the side in the ascendency going into the final quarter, finding routes into the Irish circle on a number of occassions, but Ireland performed their defensive duties well. Needing a win, France rolled the dice, withdrawing goalkeeper Corentin Saunier in favour of an additional outfield player, an advantage they used effectively to win a penalty corner which required the intervention of Jaime Carr to parry over the bar.
France, though, found their winner in the final two minutes, a deft touch in front of Carr from Timothée Clemént deflecting the ball into the Irish net.
Speaking after the game, Ireland’s Jeremy Duncan said:
“We knew it was going to be really tight. We would have liked to have hung on for a 1-1 draw or to have come back and make it 2-1. But it is always really close against those guys.”
Discussing their top spot finish in Pool H, Duncan said:
“It’s brilliant. One of our goals at the start of the tournament if we didn’t get into the top eight was to be in that 9th/10th play-off. We are delighted to be in that game. We are ninth in the world at the moment, and we want to finish at that ranking.”
Ireland will face either New Zealand or Pakistan in their final FIH Hockey World Cup outing in Wavre on Friday, August 28 to determine their final ranking.
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