Irish Hockey Association

European Nations Cup 2002
Day 1 Match Report
Ireland Vs Portugal

Starting XI
Mark Ruddle
Joe Brennan
Karl Burns
Aaron Mills
Sean Nicholson
Philip Smith (Captain)
David Hobbs
Ronan Gormley
Johnny Quigley
Chris Barnes
John Jermyn

Ireland’s first match in the Under 21 European Nation’s Cup was played today in the Amsicora stadium, Cagliari as they began their quest for promotion to Division A in two year’s time.

The match was played today at 4:30 pm local time with temperatures in excess of thirty degrees. The Irish players took their time to adjust to the conditions and it was not until the second half that Ireland made their dominance count with four goals in a twenty-minute spell.

The first half was very encouraging from an Irish point of view as they
exerted a lot of pressure and forced the Portuguese keeper into a number of saves and goal line clearances.

However the Irish lads failed to find the net despite their superiority
and the score at half time was nil all. In the second half the Irish lads again continued to force the game and were rewarded with four goals in a twenty-minute spell. The first goal was scored in the fortieth when Ronan Gormley forced home the ball following a Chris Barnes drag flick. This was soon followed by David Robb’s first international goal, as he touched in another Barnes flick.

At this stage the Irish were growing in confidence as their opponents wilted in the heat and were further rewarded when David Hobbs scored two goals in eight minutes, the first from play and the second as a result of a short corner switch. The Irish continued to play fast attacking hockey and were unlucky not to add more goals to their tally before the final hooter.

Irish coach Denis Pritchard was very happy with the team’s performance and was pleased with how the players coped in the heat. The Players can be happy with today’s result and look forward to tomorrow’s game with Croatia with a lot of confidence.

In today’s other pool B game the hosts, Italy defeated Croatia 1 - 0 whilst in pool A Poland defeated Wales 7 - 2. As Gibraltar pulled out of the tournament late last week France played a match against a local Sardinian selection and won 4 - 0.

Douglas Miller
Asst. Manager

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