The senior EuroHockey Championship summer got under way in Dublin with the men’s second tier seeing Ukraine, Ireland, Italy and Scotland all winning well. Here’s a round-up of the action:
Men’s EuroHockey Championship II (Dublin Ireland)
Pool A
Ukraine 6 Portugal 3
Three Andrii Koshelenko strokes underpinned a lively 6-3 win for Ukraine over Portugal to get them started in great style. Koshelenko’s first of four goals in the game was from a corner before his first stroke made it 2-0.
Bohdan Kovalenko extended the lead to three before Portugal fought back via José Santos and Vasco Ribeiro, reducing it to 3-2 but Maksym Onofriiuk put daylight between the sides at half-time and Koshelenko’s second stroke stretched out a 5-2 lead.
David Franco replied once again but Koshelenko’s third stroke and fourth goal completed the victory.
Ireland 9 Czech Republic 0
The hosts served notice of their intent with a comprehensive 9-0 win over the Czech Republic with six different goalscorers.
After a scoreless first quarter, captain Sean Murray finished off a great team move to get the ball rolling. Ben Walker cracked in a reverse for the second and then Murray added one more before half-time.
John McKee and Jeremy Duncan also weighed in before two set piece goals from Lee Cole extended the lead. McKee and Ben Johnson completed the rout.
Pool B
Italy 4 Türkiye 0
Italy got the tournament up and running with a comfortable 4-0 win over Türkiye. It took just 19 seconds for them to register a goal as they profited from some loose passing in the teeming rain to set up Francois Sior for 1-0.
Juan Munafo’s spectacular deflection made it 2-0 just before half-time and then Felix Dionisi Vici stretched the lead to three with a cool finish after a long overhead into the circle. Manuel Mondo’s corner added the confidence of a good result.
Scotland 3 Switzerland 0
The new look Scotland fielded five debutants and got off to a great start with one of those newcomers, Keir Robb, scoring amid a scramble for 1-0, 16 minutes after he made his entrance into the game.
And they had a healthy half-time lead with a brilliant counter goal. Turning over possession, an overhead pass found Alan Forsyth through on goal – the striker selflessly laid off for Jamie Golden to sweep home. Struan Walker got the third in the third quarter.
** All games are being broadcast on www.eurohockeytv.org
