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Irish Independent
18 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Irish dreams of a semi-final dealt blow as French players are left in tears after first EuroHockey win in 22 years
French players were left in tears after their first EuroHockey win in 22 years as Ireland wasted 13 penalty corner chances, twice hit the post and lost their seven-game unbeaten record to Les Bleus. Mathilde Duffrene's second-half penalty corner proved the difference, while goalkeeper Lucie Ehrmann produced a superb display to thwart Ireland's below-par attackers. Defeat leaves hopes of progression resting on beating Germany Wednesday night by a two-goal cushion. Olympic, world and defending European champions Netherlands beat hosts Germany 5-1 on Monday evening. 'We are gutted,' said Katie Mullan. 'We had a lot of opportunities, the French goalkeeper was phenomenal, but we should take a hard look at ourselves in attack as we expect more from ourselves and we are able to produce more quality in the final third.' An unmarked Mullan hit the post and then blazed over in the first quarter to set the tone for Ireland's host of squandered chances. They then wasted five penalty corner chances in a row. The post was rattled either side of post runner Emma van der Zanden charging down the castle hits. Lizzy Murphy made a sprawling second-half body save from Van Der Zanden. It paved the way for upfield Irish circle penetration but increasing desperation to find the net as more corner set-pieces went begging. With 11 minutes left, Ireland went down to 10 after a green card for Michelle Carey. And France made it count through Duffrene's rising penalty corner flick. Mullan's late yellow card for physical intent summed up their afternoon. Coach Gareth Grundie said: 'We were impatient with the ball, but we had enough opportunities to win it comfortably. We will have to take that one on the chin.'
Irish Independent
20 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Irish dreams of a semi-final in tatters as French players are left in tears after first EuroHockey win in 22 years
French players were left in tears after their first EuroHockey win in 22 years as Ireland wasted 13 penalty corner chances, twice hit the post and lost their seven-game unbeaten record to Les Bleus. Mathilde Duffrene's second-half penalty corner proved the difference, while goalkeeper Lucie Ehrmann produced a superb display to thwart Ireland's below-par attackers. As it stands, defeat left hopes of progression resting on their final pool game against hosts Germany and a healthy goal difference win. It's an outside chance at best. 'We are gutted,' said Katie Mullan. 'We had a lot of opportunities, the French goalkeeper was phenomenal, but we should take a hard look at ourselves in attack as we expect more from ourselves and we are able to produce more quality in the final third.' An unmarked Mullan hit the post and then blazed over in the first quarter to set the tone for Ireland's host of squandered chances. They then wasted five penalty corner chances in a row. The post was rattled either side of post runner Emma van der Zanden charging down the castle hits. Lizzy Murphy made a sprawling second-half body save from Van Der Zanden. It paved the way for upfield Irish circle penetration but increasing desperation to find the net as more corner set-pieces went begging. With 11 minutes left, Ireland went down to 10 after a green card for Michelle Carey. And France made it count through Duffrene's rising penalty corner flick. Mullan's late yellow card for physical intent summed up their afternoon. Coach Gareth Grundie said: 'We were impatient with the ball, but we had enough opportunities to win it comfortably. We will have to take that one on the chin.'
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Ireland's EuroHockey hopes rocked by shock defeat to France
Ireland women's EuroHockey campaign was left hanging by a thread after a lacklustre 1-0 defeat against France where 13 penalty corners went begging and they twice hit the post. A feast of Irish goals over a 13-year unbeaten record against the French completely deserted them in Monchengladbach, as Mathilde Duffrene's second-half penalty corner proved the difference while goalkeeper Lucie Ehrmann produced an outstanding display to thwart Ireland's forward lines. Victory for lower-ranked France was their first at a EuroHockey since 2003. As it stands, this defeat leaves Ireland's hopes of reaching the semi-finals resting on their final pool game against hosts Germany and a handsome goal difference win. 'We are gutted,' said Katie Mullan. 'We had a lot of opportunities, the French goalkeeper was phenomenal, but we should take a hard look at ourselves in attack as we expect more from ourselves and we are able to produce more quality in the final third.' The outcome may have been vastly different had an unmarked Mullan not hit the post and then blazed over in the first quarter. This before Ireland had five penalty corner chances in a row. They couldn't convert, with the post being rattled either side of post runner Emma Van Der Zanden charging down the castle hits. The Green Army had seven corners in all during the first 15 minutes, each one lacking injection speed and control from the top. With a high press, Ireland continued to move the ball with purpose as they dominated the last third in the second quarter. Yet it was France who found the net first from a corner midway through the quarter, although the sweep shot was ruled out for illegal height. Ireland had scored no less than four goals in each of their seven previous wins over the French. However, Les Bleues have come a long way since their 7-1 hammering to the Irish at the 2015 EuroHockey. At the start of the second half, goalkeeper Ehrmann's body protection came to the fore while at the other end an advancing Lizzy Murphy made a sprawling body save from Van Der Zanden. It paved the way for more Irish circle penetration and increasing desperation to find the net as more corner set pieces went begging. Eleven minutes from time, and with Ireland down to 10 after a green card to Michelle Carey, France scored against the run of play thanks to Duffrene's incisive penalty corner flick. Ireland then went to 11 outfielders when Murphy was taken off with five minutes left. To sum up Ireland's afternoon, Mullan was handed a yellow card for physical play two minutes later. Coach Gareth Grundie said: 'We were impatient with the ball but we had enough opportunities to win it comfortably. We will have to take that one on the chin. 'We kept trying to be too direct and we could have done better with our 13 corners.' Ireland's hopes rest on Olympic, world and defending European champions Netherlands beating Germany later on Monday, setting up a final pool game showdown on Wednesday.
BBC News
a day ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Ireland's EuroHockey hopes dashed by loss to France
Ireland's hopes of reaching the EuroHockey semi-finals for the first time are in tatters after a shocking 1-0 defeat by France in only goal of the game came early in the fourth quarter from a penalty corner as Mathilde Duffrene's shot beat Ireland goalkeeper Lizzie had plenty of possession and opportunities, as well as hitting a couple of posts, but lost the initiative as the game wore will now be reliant on a big win for the Netherlands over Germany on Monday evening to give themselves any shot at making the last four. Ireland dominated the first quarter but could not find the opening score. Katie Mullan had an early opportunity but hit the post and then could not control the rebound as it flew over the bar. There then came a flurry of penalty corners in a row, five in all for Ireland. Christina Hamill saw her effort hit the post and Niamh Carey's deflection went sounded a warning to Ireland early in the second quarter when they had a goal disallowed from a short corner as the ball was lifted into the net above the height of the sides then struggled in the heat to create any meaningful circle penetrations before started the second half with attacking intent and Hannah McLoughlin saw two strikes at goal saved by Lucie the French were growing in confidence and Lizzie Murphy had to make a point blank save from Gabrielle Verrier to keep the game longer the game wore on the more panic there was in Ireland's play. They would pay the price when Duffrene's effort from a penalty corner found its way into the back of the Irish net with ten minutes remaining. 'We had enough chances to win the game, I think early on, and we tried to stay steady throughout the four quarters,' explained Irish captain Sarah Hawkshaw.'Even in the last quarter we had multiple chances that we could have put it away, but they sat so defensively and then once they got the goal on it made it more difficult.'We knew penalty corner attack would be important and we had enough of them to slot it away as well, so yeah, very disappointed in that end, but we'll have to put it to bed, the moment's over and we'll look at the next one.'Ireland had thirteen penalty corners in the game and couldn't convert and at this level that simply isn't good they must pick themselves up for a final Pool game against Germany on Wednesday night, no matter where they find themselves in the tournament.'We know how up and down it can be, but we try to maintain quite a steady mood in camp and that's really important.'We'll obviously take our learnings from this game, but we have a good sense of where we are, a sense in international hockey and we need to remember that and not let moments like this bring us down.'So yeah, as I said, the moment's over, we need to quickly be disappointed, look at what we need to fix and go into Germany,' added Hawkshaw.
