Brave Ireland suffer devastating defeat

After the utter devastation of a shoot-out loss to China in what was a direct Olympic qualifier, Darren Smith has the unenviable task of picking up his players to go again for another huge match on Saturday in Valencia.

He saw his side spurn 15 penalty corner chances against the world number seven side – Ireland are 14th – in their World League Round 3 quarter-final before losing 4-3 in the seventh round of a sudden death shoot-out.

It continues a horrible set of near-misses for Irish hockey as they bid to finally qualify for the Games. Four years ago, Korea did for the men’s hopes with seven seconds left on the clock. This one went a step further, the shoot-out denying Ireland a certain place at the 2016 Games though there is still a repechage of sorts.