Ireland: Beaney gets first goal for Ireland in Korea 
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| Irish Hockey |
June 17, 2005 
Belfast Telegraph, UK
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IRELAND had to settle for fourth place at the KT Cup Six Nations tournament in Korea yesterday after a 5-2 defeat by China.
Earlier in the competition Ireland had held yesterday's opponents to a scoreless draw.
Sadly, though, there was no repeat of those heroics yesterday although, once again, the girls in green produced a battling display against the team ranked four in the world.
"Six games in eight days in blistering heat conditions finally took its toll," admitted coach Reit Kuper.
But the Dutch woman and her assistant Graeme Francey were pleased at the squad's performances in what was a series top-heavy with teams ranked higher than them.
The game contained two significant milestones for a couple of individuals.
Linda Caulfield earned her 100th cap while Ulster girl Suzanne Beaney scored her first international goal.
Jenny Burke, who was winning her 149th cap, got the other Irish goal.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on the bronze medals, Ireland can reflect on a successful tournament which will have given them a confidence boost before the European Nations Cup scheduled for Dublin in mid-August.
Ireland recorded two victories in the preliminary stages of the competition, having beaten India 2-1 and Malaysia 4-0.
However the draw with China was probably the highlight and even in defeat against Korea, it was not without a positive in the shape of a hat-trick from Eimear Cregan in a 6-3 reverse.
Next up for the Irish is a training camp in Holland next month immediately followed by a Four Nations tournament in Germany.
After that it's off to Edinburgh for the Celtic Cup followed by two more internationals against Germany and three against Belgium ahead of the Europeans.
Meanwhile in yesterday's final showdown England came from a goal down to beat hosts Korea 3-1 and retain the trophy which they won last year.
India finished in fifth place after beating Malaysia who ended up collecting the wooden spoon.
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