O’Flanagan puts Ireland in last eight for first time

OUTSIDERS Ireland continued their wonderful run at the Women’s Hockey World Cup in London, beating India with an Anna O’Flanagan goal to claim an unprecedented place in the quarter-finals with a game to spare.

Graham Shaw’s team defied 30-plus degree heat at the Olympic complex in Lee Valley to follow up on their weekend win over the United States.

The result guarantees that Ireland will top Pool B even with Sunday’s game against England still to play and bypass the ‘cross-over’ phase, progressing straight to a last-eight tie on August 2.

O’Flanagan’s winner came through a sublime touch when she deflected Shirley McCay’s low drive into the top right corner with 11 minutes played.

“For so many years we have been banging on the door of world hockey, come to big tournaments and fallen at the last hurdle,” said O’Flanagan after scoring the 64th goal of her international career, one shy of Ireland’s all-time leading scorer Lynsey McVicker.

“We’ve come here and got as good a results as we could hope for, because we are playing to our potential and now we’re absolutely buzzing for that English game in front of a sellout crowd.

“We know that on our day we can beat anyone in the world. With time and training and more results like this we can be a top-ten team in the world.

“There are girls on our team who are working in full-time jobs – I have done it myself and it is extremely tough.

“We are probably the only team here that does that. Four of us playing abroad has definitely helped but every one of us out there today was amazing.”

As against the US, the ability to score was backed by a collective willingness to defend with purpose and commitment. O’Flanagan, who plays her club hockey in the Netherlands, contributed valuably in this department too, charging down a couple of Indian corners.

Their opponents, ranked 10th in the world to Ireland’s 16th, had plenty of possession throughout the hour’s hockey but their forwards were nevertheless living off scraps.

Goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran had just one genuine save of note to make in the first half, standing firmly in the way to block Lilima Minz shortly before the break.

Otherwise, what McFerran could not reach Hannah Matthews tidied up, putting her stick on a goal-bound shot at a corner from Kaur Gurjit.

Nikki Evans was presented with a gilt-edged opportunity to put the Green Army out of sight but pulled Katie Mullan’s inviting cross wide.

As a result the Irish supporters had to endure seeing Rani nick the ball off the otherwise excellent Elena Tice and race through with only McFerran to beat with four minutes left.

The Ulster net-minder put a big right foot on the Indian veteran’s shot and her team-mates successfully retained the ball at the other end of the pitch for the remaining time.

The outcome was greeted with tears of delight from players, coaching staff and fans alike as Ireland reached the knockout phase of a major tournament for the first time at the fourth time of asking, having failed to do so in 1986, 1994 and 2002.

This time they made the grade with a match still to play, as they prepare to face an England side featuring an array of Olympic gold medallists from Rio in their final pool game on Sunday evening.

The hosts are not yet certain of securing a top-three position in a pool littered with draws so far, with India and the US – both stuck on one point after two fixtures – still in the hunt.

IRELAND: A McFerran, K Mullan, S McCay, R Upton, H Matthews, Z Wilson, G Pinder, C Watkins, E Colvin, N Evans, A O’Flanagan. Subs: M Frazer, E Tice, A Meeke, N Daly, D Duke, Y O’Byrne. Not used: G O’Flanagan.