REPORT & REACTION
Shaw gets his wish for a date with the Dutch but it’s neither where or when he expected
AN EMOTIONAL Ireland coach Graham Shaw shook his head in utter disbelief before hailing his underdogs as ‘absolute legends’ after reaching today’s World Cup final against the fearsome Netherlands following an epic shoot-out victory over Spain.
For the second time in three days, goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran proved the hero as she shut out four Spanish attempts before Gillian Pinder calmly slotted home in sudden death to send Ireland’s players into dreamland and a meeting with the world No1 side.
‘Wow, hopefully this will be a changing moment in our sport,’ said Shaw. ‘This will put us somewhere with the top teams in the world and a changing moment in these girls’ lives.
‘These girls are absolute legends, what an achievement to come as the second lowest-ranked team here and make a world final. It is a dream come true.’
After Anna O’Flanagan’s deflected strike from a third-minute penalty corner, a persistent Spain levelled in the second half through Alicia Magaz. But McFerran stood tall once again in the shoot-out as Spain simply wilted under the pressure.
Shaw said: ‘Ayeisha is brilliant, she is like twinkle toes. She’s not the biggest keeper in the world, but she is lightning quick off the mark. It played into the Spanish heads and they were questioning being near her.’
‘It’s not a surprise how good she is. I remember watching that kid in a European Under 18 match in Dublin and you could tell she had steel about her.’
Despite McFerran’s heroics, Pinder still had to score to send Ireland through – and she duly did by slotting under Maria Ruiz’s diving body within the eight seconds.
‘That is serious guts and bottle when you haven’t taken one in the quarter-final,’ added Shaw, a former Ireland international. ‘She is so laid back and perhaps the perfect girl to take one.’
Ireland’s incredible performances over the last two weeks – they will now be in the world’s top 10 – have been the story of the tournament after Shaw’s side reached their first World Cup for 16 years.
Smiling before each match and regarded as ‘a team of best friends’ by Shaw, captain Katie Mullan underlined the squad’s achievements.
‘You want to come to a World Cup and make an impact. We have never got ahead of ourselves,’ she said.
‘We came here to improve with every performance and the fight and determination has been incredible.’
Ireland now face a Dutch side unbeaten since losing out to Great Britain at the Rio 2016 Olympic final.
Mullan added: ‘We will just to go into one hotel room and spend time in each other’s company have some jokes and laughs, just being with one another.
‘There’s no doubt that these girls will then wake up, grab the bull by the horns and go for it.’
Up until last year, Irish hockey has been forced to put a €550 levy on the players just to compete in tournaments.
But just like rise of the Irish men, Shaw has manage to gel a group of players who mostly have full-time jobs but train like utter professionals on the limited time they have together.
‘This team will go down in history,’ added Mullan. ‘I don’t think I will play with a better bunch of girls and I’m only 24.
‘They’re just incredible, there are no cliques and everyone has each other’s back. That is such a valuable thing in team sport.’
Now, Ireland are on the cusp of further greatness, three years after missing out on Olympic qualification. And for Shirley McCay, Ireland’s most experienced player with over 250 caps, just playing this tournament represents the finest achievement of her career. The 30-year-old said: ‘We were under the cosh but we’re really delighted. We are on cloud nine. ‘We knew we needed to start well and run over the top of them. We wanted to play to win and not defend. ‘It was always going to be cagey.’ McCay admitted that the Green Army had tried to ‘live in a bubble’ over the last week as they marched towards today’s final.
But even as she enters her last day of international hockey – she is set to retire to become a fulltime coach in Ulster – McCay has been forced to realise the moment.
She said: ‘We are living in a bubble but it’s hard when whatever you’re doing becomes unprecedented and is making history. We just never thought this would happen.’
Alyson Annan, Holland’s coach, said: ‘They are very confident and I don’t think we should under-estimate them.
‘There has to be a reason why they are in the final.’