Goals boost for Irish but bigger tests await

Six points and a goal difference of plus 17 from two games represents a decent weekend’s work for Ireland’s senior men at the Electric Ireland FIH Road to London Olympic qualifier, but they will get a first real test of their mettle against Korea tomorrow night (6pm).

Paul Revington’s charges started slowly in both their opening encounters against lower-ranked Russia and Ukraine this weekend, but the floodgates eventually opened as they claimed 6-1 and 12-0 wins respectively. The latter was their second biggest win of all time — eclipsed only by the 13-0 defeat of Malta in 2002 — but this was against a higher calibre of opposition who looked lost in a dominant Irish performance.

Hitting double figures against the Ukrainians yesterday was a big boost given Ireland have been stung by goal difference issues before; they missed out on the final of the 2008 Olympic qualifier in New Zealand by a single goal.

But coach Paul Revington was typically under-stated about this performance, reckoning it will have little bearing on the crunch game with Korea.

“I think we are happier with the clean sheet. It was a composed and organised performance and the result kind of took care of itself,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll read too much into this. Korea will be tough and we’ll do our preparation to be ready for that.”

Given Ireland initially laboured against the Russians, going in only 2-1 up at half-time, Revington suggested his side’s difficulties may be mental rather than structural.

The misplaced passes and defensive lapses that pockmarked that 35-minute period largely evaporated against Ukraine, as Ireland’s forwards took them to the cleaners with Timmy Cockram bagging a hat-trick while Mikey Watt, Mitch Darling and Eugene Magee claimed two each.

Despite being off the pitch for all Ireland’s penalty corners against Ukraine, set-piece specialist John Jermyn rocketed home a drag-flick against Russia and claimed one from play against Ukraine.

That leaves him on 73 goals, six shy of Stephen Butler’s Irish record, with the Dubliner joking on Twitter that he and Jermyn have struck a deal for the Cork man to stop scoring once he draws level.

More serious business awaits Ireland though, with the Korean game bringing together two of the tournament’s top three sides for the first time.

Chile gave Ireland some pointers on how to counteract the tight-knit passing game of the Koreans yesterday though their resistance eventually waned as they lost 6-1. Second seeds Malaysia have looked the most defensively suspect of the trio so far, going two goals down to the Russians before recovering to win 6-2.