Ireland 'going out to win' against New Zealand but match is not 'all or nothing'

Ireland took “huge confidence” from their second-half showing against Spain at the World Cup

Ireland had a tough 3-2 defeat to Spain in their opening match of the FIH Women's Hockey World Cup. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Ireland women should be calling this World Cup a home from home. Next season, there will be a dozen Green Army players gracing pitches in Belgium’s top club league.

One of those featuring in Ireland women’s next pool match today against world No.10 New Zealand is Sarah McAuley, who plays with Antwerp’s KHC Dragons. “It’s almost every second week you are playing against someone you know,” she said.

“It’s all French down here, where it's Flemish where I am. The girls keep joking that I am the local and I don’t actually have a clue about anything.” 

The 24-year-old is certainly in tune with her role, as one of the stand-outs in defence despite an agonising 3-2 opening defeat to Spain.

Katie Mullan noted after the match that Ireland may have stifled Spain had the match been granted a fifth quarter. McAuley said that with their penalty corner battery beginning to make inroads, their physicality was also coming to the fore.

She said: “A fifth quarter would have been great for us. We bank on our penalty corners and see them as a strength.

“As a Green Army, we also take pride in our defence. We see ourselves as the platform to attack.” 

While a majority of the Ireland squad play abroad, New Zealand’s recent funding cuts has seen around a third of the Black Sticks team play overseas.

McAuley has already met one of her new KHC team-mates next season, New Zealand’s Hannah Cotter. She joked: “We met and burst out laughing as we said to each other ‘see you after the World Cup, we’re now competitors’.” 

New Zealand, who play a man-to-man structure, lost 5-2 to co-hosts Belgium in their first group match, while this morning’s clash will see two physical sides go into battle. 

“We will match each other quite well,” said McAuley.

“We are going out to win but it’s not all or nothing for us. Belgium is a tough match to finish on but we now know them really well and know how to play against them.” 

Mullan said that Ireland took “huge confidence” from their second-half showing against Spain as they twice came from behind to level before a late goal denied them points.

She added: “If we can keep building our performance we should have a good day against New Zealand and the group will come together well.” 

While the squad has been well supported at tournaments in recent years, the men’s and women’s sides believe that there seem to be more general hockey fans who have made the trip to the Belfius Hockey Arena.

Hannah McLoughlin said: “It’s an incredible stadium here and a lot of supporters, and we’ll bring that with us. It’s a new challenge.” 

Meanwhile, Spain take on Belgium in this evening’s later game, which will be another 10,000 sell out.

These two sides are seeded to progress to the next phase. The new format means there will be an advantage with the results against qualified opponents carried over from this group stage.