International Tournament
Champion's Challenge II: Ireland denied on strokes
July 12, 2009 | 443 views | Leave a commentPoland 3 (Marcin Strykowski 2, Dariusz Rachwalski) Ireland 3 (Mikey Watt 2, John Jermyn); Poland win 5-4 on penaltiesIreland let the inaugural Champion’s Challenge II title slip through their fingers at Belfield this afternoon as they let a commanding lead and performance come unstuck in the closing stages of a pulsating final battle against Poland. […]
Champion's Challenge II: 3rd/4th playoff
July 12, 2009 | 165 views | Leave a commentFrance 4 (Freddie Soyez 2, Martin Genestet, Sebastian Jean-Jean) Malaysia 3 (Hafiz Hanifi, Selvaraju Sandrakasi, Abd Rahim) after golden goalFrance withstood a second half barrage to eventually take the bronze medal at the inaugural Champion’s Challenge II with Freddie Soyez holding his nerve to net a three-times respotted penalty corner in the sixth minute of […]
Champion's Challenge II: Classification matches
July 12, 2009 | 157 views | Leave a comment5th – 6th playoff: Japan 9 (Yoshihiro Anai 3, Ryuji Nagasawa 2, Ryuji Furusato, Tomori Ono, Kazuhiro Tsubouchi, Hikroke Watanabe) Russia 2 (Alexandre Platonov, Dimitriy Azarov)Japan struck eight times in the second half to turn a first half deficit into a comprehensive victory to claim fifth place in the Champion’s Challenge II this afternoon. The […]
Ireland line up Polish revenge mission
July 12, 2009 | 137 views | Leave a commentIreland’s dramatic win over Malaysia last night has set up a near instant chance for revenge over Poland following the 3-2 defeat on Thursday as the home nation compete in their first ever world ranking final to be played on home soil. Billed pre-match as somewhat of a non-event with both countries already semi-final bound, […]
Champion's Challenge II: Ireland reach final – semi-final reports
July 11, 2009 | 255 views | Leave a commentIreland 2 (John Jermyn , David Hobbs) Malaysia 1 (Tengku Tajuddin)Ireland held out for a famous victory at Belfield this afternoon amid the pouring rain, edging out a lively Malaysia to set up a revenge mission in tomorrow’s final against Poland. They were made to live on their nerves, though, as a corner conceded 15 […]
Champion's Challenge II: 5th-8th playoffs
July 11, 2009 | 145 views | Leave a comment5th-8th place playoffs: Russia 2 (Alexander Likov, Alexandre Platonov) Chile 1 (Thomas Kannegiesser)Russia’s greater proficiency in both circles proved the vital factor as Chile created much but threatened little except in the closing four minutes. Alexander Likov’s 14th minute reverse-stick effort was the sole highlight of the first half as the South American side let […]
Anthoni to face old friends for first time
July 11, 2009 | 185 views | Leave a commentGiven the spectator numbers to date, Ireland’s match with Malaysia should prove the biggest draw of the Champion’s Challenge II to date with the South-East Asian side adorning the crowd with bodhrans and plenty of noise (seen talking to players post-match, below right). Some may have hoped for the fixture to have been the final […]
European U-18 Championships: Day Four
July 10, 2009 | 160 views | Leave a commentIreland U-18 Boys 1 (Stu Loughrey) Wales 0Andy Smyth’s side showed their steely determination for a second successive game as they struck late to beat Wales in an extremely tight-fought battle in Vienna. Stu Loughrey finished off fellow Leinster man Kyle Good’s brilliant cross with just four minutes to go of their semi-final for the […]
Champion's Challenge: Ireland 2 Poland 3
July 9, 2009 | 190 views | Leave a commentIreland 2 (Mikey Watt, Alan Sothern) Poland 3 (Tomasz Gorny, Maciej Janiszewski, Tomasz Dutkiewicz)Despite the match being solely to decide semi-final pairings, Ireland and Poland played out the most intense battle of the Champion’s Challenge II to date. Tomasz Dutkiewicz’s low corner strike early in the second half proved the vital moment of a helter-skelter […]
Champion's Challenge II: Day three
July 9, 2009 | 323 views | Leave a commentGroup A: Japan 4 (Genki Mitani, Ryuji Fukushiro, Kenji Kitazato, Naoto Shiokawa) Chile 3 (Felipe Montegu, Alexis Berzcely, Felipe Eggers)With just seeding for the relegation play-offs at stake, Japan got a low-key tussle off to a decent start as Genki Mitani scrambled in from close range inside 100 seconds. Other than that, chances were at […]
European U-18 Championships: Day three
July 8, 2009 | 179 views | Leave a commentEuroHockey Girl’s Youth ChampionshipsIreland 1 (Ali Meeke) England 3 (Shona McCallin, Rebecc Dru, Holly Chipman)Following Belgium’s 3-0 win over France, Ireland were left with the tough task of needing to beat England by three clear goals in the final group B. They started brightly with Deirdre Duke’s magical build-up play setting up Ali Meeke for […]
Champion's Challenge: Ireland 3 Japan 0
July 7, 2009 | 175 views | Leave a commentGroup A: Ireland 3 (John Jermyn 2, Mikey Watt) Japan 0 What a difference a day makes. The indecision and individual errors that characterised Monday night’s match with Chile all but dissipated as Ireland eased into the semi-finals of the Champion’s Challenge II at Belfield last night. The 3-0 score-line was the only similarity between […]
Champion's Challenge: Day Two results
July 7, 2009 | 146 views | Leave a commentGroup B: Austria 4 (Michael Korper 2, Benjamin Stanzl 2) Russia 4 (Alexey Sergeev 2, Evgeny Mokrousov, Azarov)Austria produced a stunning comeback in another lively game at the Champion’s Challenge this afternoon as they recovered from a three-goal deficit to draw 4-4, though the value of a draw for either side following opening day defeats […]
European U-18 Championships: Day Two
July 7, 2009 | 170 views | Leave a commentGirl’s EuroHockey Youth ChampionshipsIreland U-18 Girls 1 (Chloe Watkins) France 0Ireland created a chance to qualify for the semi-finals as they got the better of France 1-0 in Nivelles, Belgium. They created plenty of opportunities including nine short corners and plenty of goalmouth action but their lone goal came courtesy of Chloe Watkins’ 12th minute […]
Champion's Challenge: Paul Revington's thoughts on first tournament with Ireland
July 5, 2009 | 159 views | Leave a commentAhead of his first ranking tournament in charge of the Irish team, The Hook caught up with Paul Revington to get his thoughts on the Champion’s Challenge II event. The Hook (TH): How do you feel the squad is currently shaping up? Paul Revington (PR): “I think we’re pretty spot on. In terms of our […]
Ireland's men retain Celtic Cup but women denied
June 28, 2009 | 352 views | Leave a commentIreland men 3 (Gareth Watkins 2, Brian Doherty) Scotland 3 (Mark Ralph 2, Gavin Byers)Paul Revington’s novices retained the Celtic Cup in Edinburgh this afternoon, keeping the Scottish hosts at bay after Gareth Watkins had ensured a dream start with two goals inside six minutes. Scotland fought back to make it 2-1 by the interval […]
Irish women downed by Belgium
June 26, 2009 | 191 views | Leave a commentThe Irish women’s senior team fell to a 3-1 defeat to Belgium this afternoon in Kazan and will now face Ukraine in the competition’s third/fourth place play-off at 12.30pm (Irish time) tomorrow. They were unable to hold onto a tenth minute lead, courtesy of Shirley McCay‘ penalty corner goal and found themselves chasing the game […]
Ireland complete French Celtic Cup double
June 26, 2009 | 213 views | Leave a commentIreland Men 3 (Chris Cargo, Paul Gleghorne, Brian Doherty) France 1 (Freddie Soyez) Ireland’s youngsters produced a performance to remember as they hammered France 3-1 with debutants Chris Cargo (pictured, left), Paul Gleghorne and Brian Doherty all scoring in the first full international game. Cargo set Ireland on their way in the second minute, hitting […]
Jacob strike ensures top spot
June 24, 2009 | 170 views | Leave a commentLisa Jacob’s (pictured celebrating UCD’s ISC win) 18th minute, penalty corner goal against Malaysia – in combination with Ukraine’s 2-1 win over Russia – meant Ireland topped their Champion’s Challenge II group in Kazan early this morning. The Wexford native defelcted home Shirley McCay’s bash from Ireland’s second corner of the day for her second […]
Colvin secures Ukranian draw
June 22, 2009 | 219 views | Leave a commentLizzie Colvin (pictured) came off the bench for the second time in two days to score, this time earning Ireland with a levelling goal in today’s 1-1 draw with Ukraine in the second group game of the Champions Challenge. Colvin struck in the 59th minute from a switched penalty corner – Ireland’s fourth of the […]