Japan 0-1 Ireland
The Irish men’s hockey team is one win away from qualifying for the Paris Olympics after defeating Japan 1-0 in the FIH Olympic Hockey Qualifier in Valencia.
Ireland went into their final pool match against Japan knowing they still had a place in the semi-finals against Spain after losing 4-2 to Belgium on Monday.
That semi-final will be pushed back to Friday at 11.30am and will be broadcast live on the RTÉ News channel and RTÉ Player.
It was a tense and nervous game with a lot at stake, but it was Ireland who made a decisive breakthrough in the 21st minute.
Shane O’Donoghue’s penalty corner was teed up by Luke Madeley, who smashed the ball into the net for what would be the only goal of the game.
Ireland had to live with tension from then on as Japan looked increasingly hopeless in their pursuit of an equalizer. The Green Machine was able to withstand a series of penalty corners in the second half, but to no avail, as Japan removed their goalkeeper and added an attacker.
The result leaves Ireland second in the pool behind Belgium, and they will now face a big semi-final against Spain on Friday.
Three of the final four teams will qualify for the Olympics, so even if Ireland loses, the winner of the third-place match will also qualify, meaning they still have a chance to go to Paris.
Head coach Mark Tumilty said after the game, “We’ve become comfortable playing deep defense without the ball.”
“Defensively being thick is something we have been working on. Our goal was to get out of the group and we achieved that and we will face a big challenge against Spain in the semi-finals on Friday.”
Friday could be a golden opportunity for Ireland, with men’s captain Sean Murray stressing the importance of a huge double-header.
“Ourself and the women’s team will be playing against Spain in the semi-finals of this competition,” he said.
“Hopefully we can get the job done on Friday and they can get the job done tomorrow as well. It would be great for the two Irish teams to do that against Spain.”
Japan: Tetsu Yoshikawa, Kazuya Yamazaki, Yasushi Kawahara, Satoshi Tanaka, Masaru Fukuda, Tetsu Takade, Yutaka Nagai, Takashi Fujishima, Kazu Nagayoshi, Tadashi Ohashi (captain), Yasushi Tanaka
sub: T Niwa, M Yamashita, H Saito, R Ooka, G Mitani, Y Kawamura,
Ireland: D. Hart, L. Madeley, T. Cross, S. O’Donoghue, L. Cole, S. Murray (captain), M. Robson, N. Page, J. McKee, D. Walsh, J. Duncan.
sub: J. Carr, K. Marshall, M. Nelson, P. McKibbin, J. Lynch, S. Hyland, B. Johnson.