Sherriff shoots Irish to victory

Ireland 3 Russia 0

However, Justin Sherriff for it is he and the rest of the Irish squad are taking nothing for granted ahead of today's clash with the mighty German machine which yesterday dismantled France 3-0. The sobering thought for the Irish players after their win, however, was that France had beaten the Russians by the same 3-0 margin, making them Pool A's whipping boys.

"We've watched the Germans over the past few days," Sherriff said after his third international hat trick, "and they are a world class side. But the Irish players are definitely looking forward to it.

"We'll go out and play them with heart and passion and we've done our homework over the past year or so and the team has to go and do it on the pitch and each individual has to do their bit."

Coach John Clarke echoed the sentiment, saying that if his players live up to their potential, then they can give the Germans a run for their money. He was disappointed Ireland had failed to score more goals against the Russians, admitting if his side had "to have a go" then anything could happen.

"The difficulty is that we don't get enough opportunities to put our level up that high. If we hadn't put it up to Spain in the second half of that game it could have been seven or eight-one to them. It's knowing you can do it and then do it. We did it in Manchester last year and we did it in Belgium last year but that's just twice in 15 games. We have to be able to do that again and we have to do it against Germany. That's where the satisfaction for the quality players lies.

"I believe we have a lot of quality in our squad not just our star players, but in the depth of the squad. But the opportunity only comes when the chips are down. Playing these guys in friendlies is not the same."

Clarke said he was in the happy position that everyone would be fit to face Germany, with goalie and captain Nigel Henderson and long-term injury worry Gordon Elliot both back in the frame, although the hard part was going to be who to leave out.

"As of this moment I can still walk down the hotel corridor in safety, but I don't know how much longer that will last for," he joked.

Reflecting on the performance against the Russians, Clarke would only allow that the Irish had "played well within themselves" and that the score line was no shock.

"We expected to win by a clear margin and create lots of chances and that's what happened. We should have won by more on the amount of chances we created, but the players were a wee bit apprehensive and nervous," he said.

In fact, Ireland were only one up at half time thanks to Sherriff's cracking 17th minute opener after Andy Barbour's excellent through ball put the Pembroke Wanderers striker one-on-one with the hapless Russian goalie.

Eleven minutes after the restart, Sherriff and Ireland landed their second. A surging run from Graham Shaw ended with a pass to an unmarked Sherriff in the circle and his shot was firm and true.

Eight minutes later he completed his tally when rounding the goalie to slot home his third.

Ireland did have a minor scare in-between when the Russians got a series of short corners, the second of which came off the bar and the third was saved magnificently by Wes Bateman in the Irish goal. "Saves like that turn matches and lift players," Clarke said later, by way of commendation.

Ireland: Bateman, Brown, Black, Smyth, Lutton, Irwin, Raphael, Jackson, Sherriff, Barbour, Buttimer. Rolling subs: Butler, Shaw, Hobbs, Jermyn.

Russia: Dobijine, Mokrousoc, Nikolaev, Tchernikov, Stasyuk, Ivanov, Platonov, Krasnoiartsev, Chelesttouk, Kouznetsov, Tigounov. Rolling subs: Garifzyanov, Volkov, Sorokin.