Irish men’s hockey team defeats South Korea to qualify for Olympics – Irish Times

Ireland 4 South Korea 3

How nervous are Irish hockey supporters? Shredded. But their joy knew no bounds when the clock struck 60 minutes after an excruciatingly tense match against South Korea in Valencia on Sunday, with Ireland 4-3 in the third-place match of the qualifying tournament. The victory earned him a spot in this summer’s Olympics.

Goals from Matthew Nelson, Ben Johnson, Johnny McKee and Shane O’Donoghue ensured victory for Mark Tumilty’s side in a rollercoaster ride. Ireland built leads of 2-0, 3-1, and 4-2 throughout the match, but South Korea fought back every time.

There were countless scares in the closing stages, with the South Koreans believing they had won 4-4 late in the third quarter, only for the video referee to nullify their attempts. Then, with 75 seconds left and it looked like the game was going to go to penalty strokes, Jung Joon-woo’s close-range shot went off David Hart’s left post.

It took my breath away from beginning to end. Ireland took the lead one minute before the end of the first quarter when Nelson converted Lee Cole’s close range shot from a penalty corner. And after some great work from captain Sean Murray and McKee, Johnson drilled a reverse shot into the roof of the net to make it 2-0 early in a goal fest in the second quarter.

South Korea quickly got one point back from the first penalty corner, the first shot was well saved by Luke Madeley on the line, but Kim Jong-hoo’s rebound hit the post and bounced off goalkeeper David Harte’s back. .

Sixty seconds later, Ireland regained a two-point advantage thanks to a play from Mackie. Kyle Marshall played a great aerial ball to pick out Dara Walsh on the right, Walsh played in Murray and his cross was tucked home by Mackie. However, with one minute left until halftime, Jung Joon-woo deflected a penalty corner past Harte, halving the lead once again for South Korea. The score at the break was 3-2 to Ireland.

60 seconds of the third quarter summed up the game. O’Donoghue’s corner kick made it 4-2, and before the cheers had died down, Hart scored a penalty stroke, which was converted by Jang Jeong-hyun. Now it’s 4-3.

Things got even more tense when South Korea’s 40-year-old captain, Lee Nam-young, thought he had won 4-4, when the video referee ultimately disallowed a “goal”. And just after Cole made a stunning clearance from the South Korean corner, a frustrated Lee ended up going to the sin bin for 10 minutes after hitting Peter McKibbin’s treasure with his stick.

Fourteen years ago, Lee’s goal with eight seconds remaining against Belfield left Ireland in the dust as South Korea entered London 2012 and hosted Ireland that summer. But this time, thanks to Hart’s goalkeeping and an exceptional collective defensive effort, Ireland held off South Korea’s relentless pressure and won.

“I’m speechless,” said Murray, the Most Valuable Player. “Korea’s achievement, it was a scary, scary, tough match. I used to lose matches and miss out on qualifying for the Olympics, but now I’m starting to feel what it’s like to qualify. I can’t express how proud I am of this team.”

This is only the second time since Ireland’s independence that men have qualified for the Olympics, their only previous appearance being in Rio eight years ago. They won’t have long to celebrate, but in three weeks they will be off to India to take on the Netherlands, Australia, Spain and India in the FIH Pro League.

There was no joy for Valencia’s women’s team, who lost 2-1 to Great Britain in the third-place match on Saturday, ending their hopes of going to Paris. Hannah McLoughlin’s penalty corner in the final action of the match resulted in a disappointing goal, before goals from Sarah Jones and Katie Robertson sent the bronze medalists from Tokyo to another Olympics.

As noted by keen observers, UK had 12 players on the pitch early in the third quarter, but Irish hockey has yet to decide whether to take issue with this violation. A spokesperson said, “We are considering the matter and will respond tomorrow.” “My feeling is that there was no significant impact on the result. The player was on for about a minute. We’ll have a clearer answer tomorrow.”

Ireland (boys): D Hart; L. Madeley, T. Cross, S. O’Donoghue, L. Cole. S. Murray (Captain), M. Robson, S. Hyland. J. McKee, M. Nelson, D. Walsh. Subs: K. Marshall, J. Kerr, N. Page, P. McKibbin, J. Lynch, J. Duncan, B. Johnson.

Ireland (female): McFerran. R Upton, H McLaughlin, E Curran, B Harper. S Hawkshaw, C Beggs, K McKee. N. Carey, K. Mullan (Captain), N. Carroll. Subs: E. Murphy, S. McCauley, M. Carey, S. Torrance, E. Neil, C. Watkins, D. Duke.

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