Women stun Korea as Irish double up

It was a memorable afternoon for Irish hockey as both national sides produced quarter-final victories at the Champions Challenge I in Malaysia and Scotland yesterday.

Both sides were hoping to avoid relegation as a first priority, but, with the women seeing off world number eight Korea 2-1 and the men prevailing on penalties against France, after a 2-2 draw, they are safe and can now instead target beating their best-ever CC1 finishes of third place.

Women’s coach Darren Smith hailed “easily the best victory” of his tenure as they stunned tournament favourites Korea in Glasgow, just 24 hours after a demoralising 3-0 loss to the USA left them with the toughest last eight draw.