IRELAND 1 AUSTRIA 0
Ireland won the third of their series of matches with Austria 1-0 to seal a 2-1 Series win at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown.
Saturday afternoon’s game was a much tighter affair than Friday’s encounter and it was a closely fought game from start to finish.
Determined not to repeat the hiding they received the evening before, Austria were more resolute in defence and didn’t surrender as many goal scoring opportunities to the Irish. Ireland had a goal ruled out early on in the first half of the game, as did Austria in the second half of the match.
Indeed, set pieces were plentiful with Ireland getting seven and Austria getting four on the day. A few cards were dished out too.
Moritz Frey was the first person to receive a green card on 17 minutes for Austria. He was followed by team mate Oliver Binder and Ireland’s Conor Empey in the 37th minute. Luke Madeley saw a green card a minute later, temporarily reducing Ireland to 9 players. Oliver Kern of Austria got a green card in the 45th minute.
The breakthrough score finally came in the final quarter when Conor Empey’s field goal struck the backboard in the 51st minute. Ireland won 1-0 and go into the European Championships II in eight days time with a winning record. Coach Tumilty was pleased to have won the series and a top two finish in the European Championships II competition will give a possible qualification spot for next years Olympics in Paris.
IRELAND: David Harte (GK), Luke Witherow, Luke Madeley, Shane O’Donoghue, Sean Murray (C), Jeremy Duncan, Michael Robson, Benjamin Walker, Jonathan Lynch, Lee Cole, Conor Empey SUBS USED: Kyle Marshall, Charlie Rowe, John McKee, Peter McKibbin, Ben Johnson, Nicholas Page
AUSTRIA: Mateusz Szymczyk (GK), Oliver Binder, Benjamin Kolbl, Benjamin Stanzl, Franz Lindengrun, Nikolas Wellan, Fabian Unterkircher, Leon Thoern, Moritz Frey, Xaver Hasun (C), Oliver Kern. SUBS USED: Peter Kaltenboeck, Bastian Valas, Josef Winkler, Fulop Losonci, Mateusz Nyckowiak, Clemens Rusnjak
