The Irish Women’s Hockey team suffered heartbreak on Sunday when they were beaten in the FIH Nations Cup Final by the hosts, Spain. They qualified for their first Final at this tournament on Saturday by beating New Zealand for the first time, and the showing does mark progress for the team, which sadly missed out on Olympic Qualification this time round.

Spain took the lead through Patricia Alvarez’s field goal in the 25th minute. Lola Rieira converted a penalty corner in the 30th minute to send Spain in leading 2-0 at halftime. In the end, those two goals were enough for Spain to secure the Nations Cup and the only spot available in the FIH PRO LEAGUE for the 2024-25 season.

“I’m incredibly proud of the Green Army, of the fight we put in, not just this week but over the past couple of months,” said captain Katie Mullan.

“It’s been an incredibly tough couple of months, both on and off the pitch. And what the girls have done, the resilience they’ve shown, is just an incredible story for sport really. I hope that we’ve inspired young people so that if they maybe don’t achieve their dreams, they get back up and go again. We’ll be back again!.”

“It was definitely not the game that we wanted, I think in the end Spain were better, so congratulations to them, they deserve the gold medal,” added Head Coach Facundo Quiroga.

“At the end of the day, we talk about coming here to write our own story. It was a really tough way back after the Olympic Qualifiers in January and we needed to build a team, we needed to feel competitive again and the girls worked really, really hard over the last three months. Especially in this tournament, they showed how resilient they are. We didn’t start the tournament well, and we came back immediately.”

“I am really proud of what the girls have done so far; they are such an inspiration for a generation of young athletes in Ireland, and what they have done for Irish sport, especially for women’s sport in Ireland, is so huge. The legacy of this team goes far beyond the silver medal we won. I’m really proud of them.”

 

 

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