Friday, June 26, 2009

Ireland complete French Celtic Cup double

Ireland 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 home a reverse-stick shot before Gleghorne doubled up in the eighth minute, this time assisted by Bangor-man Cargo. Doherty completed the Irish tally in the 43rd minute with a low penalty corner for a comfortable lead.

The experienced Freddie Soyez - with a caps total likely to be in excess of the entire Ireland squad on display - got a consolation strike with nine minutes to go.

Ireland Women's A 2 (Nikki Evans, Nicci Daly) France 1 (Perrine Roger)
Nicci Daly's 62nd minute strike in her first international outing gave Guy Garrett's side a winning start to the women's Celtic Cup in Edinburgh, beating a defender before burying a shot for the 2-1 win.

Nikki Evans was the first on the scoreboard when Hannah Bowe's pass split the French defence with Daly (pictured, right) laying off to Evans to slot home into an empty goal. The French missed a 48th minute penalty stroke but did get back on level terms when Perrine Roger finished off a swift break away a minute later.

But Ireland closed the game the stronger with Bowe again instrumental, feeding Kate McConnell. The Pegasus player laid on the perfect cross for Daly to net the winner.

Speaking afterwards, Guy Garrett was pleased with his side's performance  "The team started strongly against the French and the result is a great start to the tournament and puts us in a good position for the next two days with good performances from a number of players."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well done Doc. Well done Ireland.