The Irish women’s national team will face South Korea in a decisive showdown on Tuesday night in the final Olympic hockey qualifying tournament in Valencia.
After holding Belgium to a valuable 0-0 draw in their Pool A opener, Sean Dancer’s side upped their hopes with an 8-0 win over Ukraine on Monday morning.
They currently sit second in the pool on goal difference behind Belgium, who beat South Korea 10-1 late on Monday.
Ireland need at least a draw against South Korea to finish in the top two in their pool and advance to the semi-finals.
From there, Ireland, who have just three Olympic tickets remaining, have two chances to secure a spot on the plane by winning the semi-final or otherwise winning the third/fourth place match. It will be.
After a scoreless first quarter, goals from Sarah Torrance and Niamh Carey gave Ireland a 2-0 lead against Ukraine at half-time.
The third quarter saw action from Hannah McLaughlin and Deirdre Duke further extend Ireland’s advantage, before the floodgates opened in the fourth with Roisin Upton, Beth Harper, Torrance and Katie Mullan adding points.
Dancer said after the match: “The build-up play for some of the goals was based on good attacking play, which was another pleasing aspect of today’s performance. Our set-pieces and penalty corners worked well today as well.
“But conceding zero goals is just as important as scoring goals.”
On Tuesday night, Belgium will play Ukraine at 4pm Irish time, before Ireland face South Korea at 6.15pm.