Hockey: Ireland suffer shoot-out heartbreak

SO NEAR...: Ireland’s Roisin Upton. Pic: Frank Uijlenbroek, Inpho

Spain women produced a peerless set of shoot-outs to deny Ireland automatic qualification to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Thursday afternoon.

Ireland, dominant throughout this qualifying semi-final, were left heartbroken as Roisin Upton, Sarah Hawkshaw and Hannah McLoughlin missed all three of their efforts in a dramatic shoot-out.