Ireland face England in crucial relegation match

HAVING BEEN forced to swallow the unexpectedly bitter pill of a defeat to France which undid all their good work at the European Championships, Ireland’s men will face England today in a bid to avoid relegation from the top level of European hockey.

Ireland might reasonably have expected to play Belgium in this encounter, but a curious turn of events in the late games on Wednesday saw the Belgians thrash the Czech Republic 6-0 and Germany repeat their soccer exploits by beating the English.

This means that the host nation can only finish fifth at best, but the Irish captain Paddy Brown is relishing taking on the English on their home turf.

“This is a real glamour tie for us and it is a very important game, so that adds up to a big challenge, especially after the disappointment of the French game,” the Instonians stalwart commented last night.

He maintains the Irish have put behind them the nightmare that was the French game when they were unexpectedly beaten 1-0.

“We know that the fall-out from the French game could be problematic, but we thrashed all that out afterwards and we’ve refocused on what we now need to do here. You have to remember that in the wider contest this has been a very successful tournament for us and we played really well to get the results we got against Spain and Holland.

“Before this tournament we planned for all eventualities and our being in this position was one of those. Certainly we might have expected to be playing Belgium in this game, but it has turned out we got England instead and we will plan carefully for that too,” he said.

The Irish captain, who will win his 135th cap today, says that his side have not had much recent experience of playing the English, but feels this will not be a problem.

“Of course we played them in the World Cup qualifiers in China last year when they beat us 5-1, but we regard this not only as a chance to come back from the disappointment of the French match, but also as a chance to atone for the result in China.

“We’ve done an awful lot of work on all aspects of our game since we last played them and I have no doubt we are now a better side. All the pressure is on England because they will be playing in front of their own fans.

“But we feel this is all about us and our character as a team and I am confident we will stand up and be counted.”

Brown says he is not at all concerned about Ireland’s singular lack of goals from their short corner routines and is confident that they will click in time for the England match.

“I’m not worried at all. We have class players and I am sure they will find form when we need it most. We have good routines and very talented players in the likes of Stephen Butler and John Jermyn to execute them.”

There is a certain irony in the fact that the last time the two sides met, Richard Mantell was the chief destroyer of the Irish, scoring a hat-trick of goals, all of which came from short corners. But Brown says he feels that Ireland can formulate a game plan to minimise his potential threat.

“A lot of people were disappointed by the French result, but I would tell them not to throw the baby out with the bath-water. This is a game of very thin margins and agony and ecstasy are bedfellows in hockey. We know what we have to do.”