No joy for Irish ladies

NO goals and no points is the chilling statistic worrying Ireland’s senior ladies after they fell to two 3-0 defeats to Germany and Belgium on the opening weekend of the EuroHockey Nations Championships in Germany.

Having centralised his squad since last October in a bid to make the top two here — and secure an Olympic berth in the process — Ireland coach Gene Muller must now turn his attention to retaining A division status.

Ireland head into the relegation pool later this week, carrying over no points from the group stages, making today’s clash with England meaningless.