Play-off for Irish after further pain against Spain
FOR the second time in as many days, Ireland were out of luck in an Olympic Qualification tournament semi-final against Spain. Yesterday the men’s side lost out, meaning they head for the last-chance saloon of the third-place play-off tomorrow when they will bid to book their ticket to the Paris Games. The weather looked to be on Ireland’s side as the game took place in a wet and windy Valencia yesterday morning. There were few scoring chances in a tight first quarter, though Spain looked potentially very threatening on their counter-attack. In the second quarter, the home side had the better opportunities, though Ireland did have one penalty corner which Spanish goalkeeper Luis Calzado cleared. Spain were actually on the attack as the half-time hooter sounded with the sides scoreless. Again Spain had the upper hand in the third quarter, and they took the lead from a penalty corner in the 35th minute. Their initial effort was blocked at the post by Lee Cole and Rafael Vilallonga reacted quickest to the rebound to score. Marc Miralles converted a second penalty corner just four minutes later to give Spain a 2-0 lead. Ireland continued to press in the final quarter and Calzado saved well from Shane O’Donoghue, but it was Spain who held on for the win and the Olympic ticket. The third-place match against Korea takes place tomorrow afternoon. Ireland coach Mark Tumilty said afterwards: ‘Spain came at us strongly in quarter three and took their two goals from penalty corners. ‘Spain deserved their win, even though we had a few chances to score. Going into this tournament based on World rankings, we thought we might have to go to the bronze medal match, and we are where we expected to be and have prepared for that. ‘We need to be more clinical at taking our opportunities in front of goal if we are going to achieve our target.’
IRELAND: D Harte, L Madeley, S O’Donoghue, T Cross, L Cole, D Walsh, N Page, S Murray (C), J McKee, J Duncan, M Robson. SUBS USED: M Nelson, K Marshall, P McKibbin, J Lynch, S Hyland, B Johnson
SPAIN: L Calzano, A Alonso, X Gispert, A Iglesias, J Basterra, M Miralles (C), J Bonastre, P Cunill, J Menini, B Lacallé, A Portugal. SUBS USED: E Gonzalez, M Recasens, M Reyne, I Rodriguez, G Clapes, R Vilallonga.