Gallant Irish just foiled by mighty Dutch

Ireland 0 Holland 1

For the second game in a row Dave Passmore’s side faced one of the world’s best sides and faced them down with determination and guile.

Having drawn against Spain on Sunday, they deserved at least as much against the Dutch yesterday but unfortunately fell to a single short corner goal from tournament top scorer Taeke Taekema after just 14 minutes.

Although they conceded space and possession to the Dutch in large part throughout the second period, the Irish defended with composure and patience, ready to try and catch them on the counter and, in the dying moments of this breathtaking encounter, they very nearly did so.

Awarded a penalty corner with just three minutes and 44 seconds to go, John Jermyn’s drag flick was saved by Guus Vogels in the Dutch goal, but the ball flew up and his one of his defenders on the face mask. It was a technical offence, but one which merited another short corner, but the umpires never saw it and waved play-on.

“I was very disappointed we were not awarded a short corner,” Passmore said later. “We should have had one, but we didn’t. I’m not criticising the umpires because they didn’t see it and you really need those things to go for you in games like this.

“The ball clearly hit the guy on his face protector and we should have had another corner.”

Far from wallowing in self-pity, however, Passmore and his players vowed to take the positives from their narrow defeat into today’s final pool game against France, but it now seems their chance of at least a semi-final may have gone.

A lot will depend on the outcome of the France game as well as Holland’s clash with Spain, but it now seems most likely the Irish will be playing for a fifth place finish by the end of the week.

Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans later admitted that the performance of Vogels in the Dutch goal was the difference between his team winning and losing. “They decided to target his stick side from the penalty corners thinking he was weak there, but he wasn’t,” Oltmans declared. “Overall they wanted a draw, the same as they got against Spain and they made it very difficult for us to create chances.”

As Ireland now go on to face France, Oltmans said that if current form holds up (the French have already been beaten by Spain and Holland , 6-0 and 8-3 respectively) Ireland should win easily.

Passmore was a little more circumspect. “We cannot just play an all-out attacking game against the French because they like to play expansive hockey and they can punish you. You cannot assume anything against them and we won’t,” he said.

Ireland: D. Harte, J. Jermyn, P. Brown, I. Lewers, R. Gormley, G. Shaw, S. Butler, D. Hobbs, M. Gleghorne, E. Magee, A. Barbour. Rolling Subs: K. Burns, M. Irwin, M. Black, P. Maguire.

Holland: G. Vogels, G. Derikx, T. Boerma, R. Brouwer, R. Weusthof, T. Taekema, J. Delmee, T. de Nooijer, M. Brouwer, T. Hoyng, R. van der Horst. Rolling subs: W. Jolie, E. Bouwens, E. Kessing, F. Evers, R. Reckers.