Heartbreaker for brave Irish

Ireland’s Olympic dream was snatched from them in the cruellest fashion yesterday, as the tale of the tape gave Korea a contentious winner with just nine seconds to go to stun a packed Belfield into silence yesterday.

Paul Revington’s hosts had twice seen a lead pegged back by the tournament favourites, and had one last bit of defending to do before extra-time loomed as Seung Il Lee lined up a free hit just outside the Irish 23-metre line.

His crash ball hit the backboard and Korea celebrated wildly but umpire Murray Grime gave a long corner, suggesting there’d been an Irish touch rather than a goalscoring Korean one.

But the hosts vehemently referred it to the video umpire — in place only for the final of this tournament. The slumped body language of the Irish players suggested they knew their fate and after an agonising two-minute wait, Nam Yong Lee was correctly credited with the strike.

With just two seconds left to play out and a comeback impossible, the majority of Irish players were inconsolable as they left the UCD turf in tears but Chris Cargo managed some fighting talk amid the agony.

“Words can’t describe how the lads are feeling right now,” admitted the Bangor native. “We really believed we could win this and we’ve shown everyone how good we are this week … but (to lose like this) is just unbelievable.”

Ireland coach Paul Revington admitted the defeat was among the hardest he’d faced in his career.

“The body language of the players generally tells a story and I think everyone knew it was a goal,” he admitted. “Everyone has worked hard for over three years. It’s going to be tough to face them tomorrow. Sport deals us blows and we’ve got to stand up and keep going. I’ve faced a few hard coaching experiences but... this is it.”

Having overcome their third seeding to earn a place in the decider against tournament favourites Korea with a stout 1-1 draw against Malaysia on Saturday, hopes were high that Ireland could give the nation a sporting good news story on St Patrick’s weekend after the demise of their rugby counterparts in Twickenham.

President Michael D Higgins was among those looking on as Peter Caruth fired Ireland into a 14th-minute lead, power-slapping home a rebound after Myong Ho Lee had repelled John Jermyn’s drag-flick.

That confident start helped settle the nerves but Ireland always looked susceptible to a Korean breakaway, with goalkeeper David Harte and the excellent Paul Gleghorne and John Jackson having to put out a few fires.

Ireland were eventually unravelled on 30 minutes when Nam Yong Lee dribbled to the baseline, faked to square the ball and slid it under Harte for 1-1.

That came while Ireland had skipper Ronan Gormley off the pitch having copped a green card and a two-minute suspension.

Twenty four hours previously, with Ian Sloan in the bin against the Malaysians, Ireland had shown composure to stick to their gameplan to get the 1-1 draw they needed off a Jermyn penalty corner.

They did the same here, and it paid dividends on 55 minutes. Timmy Cockram failed to get hold of his low drag-flick but it crept inside the left-hand post, just reward for a spell of Irish pressure.

There was another sting in the tail five minutes later though, with Korea awarded a penalty stroke after Nam Yong Lee was thrice impeded in the Irish circle by defenders and goalkeeper Harte. Ireland appealed to the video umpire to no avail, and Hyun Woo Lee sent Harte the wrong way from the flick spot for 2-2.

Jong Hyun Jang was then twice denied a winner, first when Gormley took his drag-flick off the line and then by a wonderful sliding block by Gleghorne, but then came Lee’s golden touch to leave Ireland crestfallen.

The ‘green machine’ therefore won’t be motoring on to London 2012, but Revington insists his troops will pick themselves up for the other challenges that lie ahead.

“We have to be pleased with the week. A moment like this is hard to understand, sometimes. We don’t control things like this but this a young group, they’ve played incredibly well for a number of years.

When they stand up again and carry on fighting, they will progress.”

There was better news for Ireland’s women, as their drag-flickers found form to guide them to a 3-0 win over Russia in their Olympic qualifier in Belgium.

Audrey O’Flynn bagged two and birthday girl Michelle Harvey the other to follow up a thumping 5-1 victory over France on Saturday. Ireland have a rest day today before taking on minnows Mexico tomorrow in the third of their five pool matches (12pm Irish time).

IRELAND: D Harte (GK), J Jackson, G McCabe, R Gormley (c), M Watt, E Magee, I Sloan, M Darling, D Ames, P Gleghorne, S Loughrey.

Rolling subs: C Cargo, J Jermyn, P Caruth, A McConnell, T Cockram.

KOREA: M-H Lee (GK); D-K Oh, N-Y Lee, S-I Lee; S-H Yoon, H-S You, J-Bok Cha; E-S Hong, Y-J Kim, J-H Jang, H-W Nam.

Rolling subs: J-H Seo (capt), W-K Yeo, M-K Kang, H-S Hyun, S-H Cho.

Umpires: M Grime (Australia) & G Simmonds (South Africa).