Ireland Olympic hockey bid fails

Ireland’s bid for an Olympic place in hockey ended at the hands of the USA who scored a golden goal winner in a 2-1 victory at the qualifying tournament in Auckland.

The Irish had been two games away from claiming the final Athens berth but they fell at the first play-off despite a battling performance.

Keli Smith had given the Americans the lead two minutes after half-time but University of Limerick’s Eimear Cregan grabbed an equaliser from a 45th-minute penalty corner to take the game into sudden-death extra-time.

However, four minutes from the end of the additional period the USA won a penalty corner and Tracey Fuchs converted the set-piece to put her side into the fifth place play-off against Korea for the final Olympic place.

On Saturday, Ireland face the seventh place play-off against Great Britain, whose disappointing campaign ended in heartbreak for the tournament’s top seeds when they lost 2-0 to Korea earlier.