The Ireland Men’s and Women’s Hockey teams began their Olympic qualification campaigns over the weekend.

The Men’s team secured a 5-1 win over Ukraine while the Women opened up with a scoreless draw against Belgium.

In the Men’s game on Sunday Ireland dominated possession early on but as the game wore on, Ukraine grew into the game.

Ireland opened the scoring when Ben Johnson scored from a penalty corner in the twenty fifth minute. Darragh Walsh almost added a second three minutes later. He was the creator of the second goal when it did arrive teeing up Lee Cole to score following some good approach play.

Ukraine’s attacking efforts were rewarded a minute later when they were awarded a penalty corner and drag flicker Viacheslav Paziuk got them on the scoreboard.

Lee Cole got his second of the game from the penalty corner to make it 3-1 in the 50th minute.

Jeremy Duncan capped off an historic day when he celebrated his 100th cap by scoring to make it 4-1 to Ireland. This was his 20th international goal. The victory was sealed when Darragh Walsh made it 5-1 with five minutes remaining.

In the Women’s tournament, Ireland who are World ranked #13, began their Olympic qualification Pool A campaign with a defiant ‘backs to the wall’ performance against the European Silver medallists from 2023 and World Ranked #4 Belgium.

This point which must be looked at as a bonus at this stage, is an excellent start and must be followed up strongly by a win on Monday morning against Ukraine.

Then there will be the final pool match against Japan but a point against the pre-tournament favourites is a very good start indeed.

 

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