Chloe Watkins and Roisin Upton fire Ireland to victory over Olympic champions Great Britain

Roisin Upton, left, and Sarah Hawkshaw of Ireland celebrate following their side's victory in the SoftCo Series International Hockey match against Great Britain at Queens University Sports Grounds in Belfast. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Ireland 2 (C Watkins, R Upton) Great Britain 1 (L Unsworth) 

Ireland recorded a notable win over Great Britain to give a strong psychological boost to their fledgling Tokyo 2021 preparations as second-half goals from Chloe Watkins and Roisin Upton saw them beat the reigning Olympic champions 2-1 at Queen’s.

While Sunday’s tie was uncapped, it was nonetheless significant with, pre-series, Shirley McCay hoping she could finally get one over the auld enemy in her 15-year tenure in green.

As such, it represents another monkey off their back against a side they will meet at the Olympics in a potentially pivotal group game.

The visitors did take the lead in the first half when Laura Unsworth got on the end of a smooth move, tipping in from Sarah Evans’ right-wing cross.

But Ireland grew into the contest and were comfortable in the second half. An excellent turnover led to the equaliser as Lizzie Colvin picked off the ball 30 metres out and fed Watkins who taunted the British backline before unleashing a perfect reverse-stick finish.

Watkins was one of five changes to Saturday’s line-up with goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran coming back into the side and their influence was huge.

“Winning the game is obviously what the game is all about but I am more pleased with how we went about it,” said Dancer. 

“With the ball, I wanted us to be more aggressive, for the players to back themselves because we have some pretty skillful players.” 

On Saturday, a strong second half saw GB win out 2-1 with the scoring sequence reversed. Roisin Upton netted a seventh-minute penalty stroke to put Ireland in good shape but Lily Owsley’s excellent equaliser and a route one move finished by Sarah Robertson turned the tide.

The series finishes on Tuesday afternoon at 3pm.

Ireland: A McFerran, N Evans, K Mullan, S McCay, L Tice, B Barr, C Watkins, L Colvin, H Matthews, S Torrans, A O'Flanagan.

Subs: L Murphy, M Carey, R Upton, H McLoughlin, S Hawkshaw, N Carey, D Duke. 

Great Britain: M Hinch, S Jones, S Evans, E Rayer, S Townsend, S McCallin, L Unsworth, L Wilkinson, L Neal, H Pearne-Webb, A Toman.

Subs: S Robertson, I Petter, L Owsley, F Crackles, G Ansley

Umpires: A Keogh, L Coughlan.