Hockey girls stick it out to the final!

Pinder super strike puts Ireland’s hockey girls into World Cup final

IRELAND’S hockey woman reached the World Cup final after a sudden death penalty shootout victory over Spain yesterday.

Gillian Pinder was hailed a heroine for the Girls in Green as she slotted home the winning shot to create sporting history.

Ireland will now take on the Netherlands in London today with a real chance of becoming champions of the world.

Graham Shaw’s side were the second-lowest ranked country at the start of the tournament but have blown expectations out of the water.

They topped their group and saw off India in the quarter-finals to reach the semis for the first time ever.

And at the Lee Valley Centre in London, Ireland went one step further to see off Spain 3-2 on penalties.

Jubilant Pinder told RTE Sport: “We are over the moon – we can’t stop smiling. It’s absolutely unbelievable.

“I’m so proud every single one of the girls, especially Ayeisha. She is so solid in goals and we knew we had a really great chance of winning with her behind us.” Emotional coach Shaw added: “I’m overwhelmed. What an effort. Spain are a really good side and made it very hard for us. This is just incredible for our sport.

“I never thought this would happen in our lifetime. I’m just so proud of them.”

Ireland went ahead through a goal from Anna O’flanagan in the first quarter of the match.

But Spain equalised in the third quarter when Alicia Magaz found the back of the Irish net.

The drama intensified when the match went to a penalty shootout.

Irish stopper Ayeisha Mcferran saved a succession of Spanish penalties but Ireland missed three of their own. It went to sudden death and Mcferran again bravely stood tall to save another Spanish penalty.

The pressure fell on Pinder who stepped forward again and found the net to win 3-2 and create one of the great moments in Irish sports history.