Sunday, July 12, 2009

Champion's Challenge II: Ireland denied on strokes

Poland 3 (Marcin Strykowski 2, Dariusz Rachwalski) Ireland 3 (Mikey Watt 2, John Jermyn); Poland win 5-4 on penalties
Ireland 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.

Having led from the third minute, Marcin Strykowski struck with just 12 seconds left of normal time to force extra-time and ultimately the lottery of penalty strokes.

It was a cruel end to what was a well-judged performance for much of the game. Unlike Thursday’s fixture, Ireland played a lot more to their own tempo rather than being dictated by the Poles with much more control of the game’s flow in evidence to break up the opponent’s commitment to counter-attack.

In saying that, Poland did have the first clear opening as Kryzysztof Kmiec miscued a reverse.

But Ireland were settled my a neatly taken Mikey Watt goal after Graham Shaw’s through ball was not dealt with by the Polish defence as the Belgian-bound striker rolled under Marcin Trzaskawka.

It was Watt’s third goal of the tournament and was the only Irish striker to score throughout the tournament from play. However, his combination work with Eugene Magee, Timmy Cockram and the more advanced John Jermyn posed serious menace with multiple reverse-stick efforts the upshot.

Jermyn secured his place as tournament top scorer with his seventh drag-flick of the competition, nut-megging the Polish goalkeeper in the 15th minute for 2-0. It came from a superb break-out via Stephen Butler, Jermyn and Cockram.

Indeed, the Cork C of I man’s lethal strike rate of seven goals from ten corners is a major boon for Paul Revington ahead of the European Championships. When he was off field, the strike rate lowered to around 25pc.

Ireland were in reasonable control though the one corner they did concede ended Conor Harte’s involvement for the day as Tomasz Duktiewicz’s drag left him with a dead leg but the lead comfortably remained in tact until the interval.

The second half, however, opened with a more dithering approach and it was no surprise Poland capitalised following a four minute spell camped in Irish territory, Strykowski getting his first of the game.

It awoke the hosts from their slumber with Jermyn flying down the right. A slight bobble cleared a way for Andy McConnell – seeing his first action of the tournament – but he snatched at the golden chance.

Another Jermyn shot rebounded Cockram’s way but his quick reaction could only guide over the bar. The goal was coming and it was Watt who secured it though Cockram deserves the greater part of the plaudits.

An overcooked through-ball looked simple for Trzaskawka to deal with but the ’Garvey man persevered to block the keeper’s kick, spin and lay on a top cross. Both Watt and Jermyn slid and got touches but it was the former who got the final deflection for 3-1 in the 50th minute.

But the wheels began to wobble thereafter as Ireland dropped deeper and Poland enjoyed more of the ball.

Strykowski’s raw power drove him through two tackles and while David Harte did well to smother, Dariusz Rachwalski rolled in the rebound to set up a grandstand finish with 13 minutes to go.

Several chances went Ireland’s way on the counter as Alan Sothern was unable to wrap his stick around Ronan Gormley’s cross; Eugene Magee magic earned a corner while McConnell twice found himself in around the back.

But Poland were holding the lion’s share of territory, pinning Ireland back and eventually got their break when Slawomir Choczaj was left all alone on the left wing. He slammed in a cross which Strykowski guided spectacularly netwards and there was no time to take the restart.

David Hobbs went closest in the first period of extra-time, skimming a post from a near impossible angle while in the second period; Magee produced one incredible effort, flipping himself from open side to reverse while lying flat on the ground.

One last goal-mouth scramble yielded an 84th minute penalty corner but with Jermyn primed, the switch went left and Cockram’s drag was cleared to safety.

David Harte’s save from Duktiewicz gave Ireland the early initiative in the stroke competition but when Joe Brennan’s effort was saved in the third series, the sides were back on level terms.

His stroke was shrouded in controversy, though, as the crowd hushed. One of the two Polish reserve players called out as Brennan shaped to shoot in an attempt to put the player off. Upon the miss, the Pole turned to the now booing crowd, raised his finger to his lips, leading to even louder cat-calls ahead of Szymon Hutek’s stroke.

He held his nerve as the Polish player was admonished by an official though it remains to be seen whether the issue will be taken further. Poland’s management were given an official warning over their conduct on the sideline by the tournament director in the semi-final win over France with possible penalties carrying into the European championships.

Penalties progressed to the sudden-death round where player-of-the-tournament Duktiewicz bounced back from his earlier miss to score. Butler fired left and wide and the title was gone.

In terms of workd rankings, the result makes a small dent in Ireland's deficit to France, Japan and Malaysia above them. However, missing out on the single promotion place to the more lucrative Champion's Challenge I means Ireland's chances of closing the gap are somewhat limited in the near future, especially with only a European B division campaign this year.

Ireland gained 10 points more than France, 15 than Malaysia and 20 on Japan but with 120 points to make up, moving up a tier will be a difficult proposition in the near future.

* Adrian Boehm photos from Ireland vs Poland can be found here while Lindie Naughton's set of pictures can be see here...

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

A very disappointing result. I would definitely have expect Ireland to win at home.

Queso said...

definitely... especially against such low ranking opposition... shocking really :-)

Anonymous said...

disappointing in that is was there for the taking. got ourselves into a great position with a fairly decent performance only to look a bit negative late on as if hanging on.

remember a couple of lads dribbling into the corner when there was still loads of time left. however, good results against japan and malaysia should bode well for europeans especially as 3/5 of the backline were in their rookie tournament.

Watt and Magee look world class at times

Anonymous said...

thought ireland played well.
could and should have scored a goal or two more ..but blew it late on letting poland back in
.thought mikey watt and john jackson were quality

Anonymous said...

Think it's a pretty good result. The results of U18's are poor...

Anonymous said...

i think ireland have issues in midfield...butler didnt look great all week...lost the ball at a number of crucial times and hes obviously not needed for corners anymore.

Anonymous said...

the thing with butler is when he plays well, Ireland play well and when he doesn't the midfield struggles.

he did give away a few balls but there was quite a bit of that going around from numerous players at different stages so to single him out is unfair.

he defo has a lot to offer still and showed a hunger for it which was good to see.

Rovers man

Anonymous said...

watt is a seriously good player who will go places. irelands best forward bye a mile.

Anonymous said...

Well harsh comment about Butler, was quality against Japan and worked so hard through tournament. Personally i saw a new side to him, he may not be on corners but Jerymn scored 7 out of 10 so why would you put him on. He has 148 caps i believe and 70 odd goals, to be honest i think the Irish team need more of players like him. He worked harder then any other midfielder and looks like played the most time!
In my opinion one of the best irish players I have ever seen and seems to get the most flack.

Irish Hockey Fan

Anonymous said...

I personally thought Butler had a good tournament compared to other players. I wonder does Ronan Gormley and David Hobbs still merit their positions in the squad, very average performances in my opinion. Watt, Magee and Jackson had outstanding tournaments.

Anonymous said...

does anyone know how far ireland have to get in euros in order to get into world cup qualifiers??

Stephen Findlater said...

If they get into the top five in the B division they recieve a WCQ place.

Europe's top four qualify automatically for the World Cup and then the next 9 countries go into the qualifiers.

Anonymous said...

magee was average by his high standards bar the last two games where he seemed to play with a lot more freedom,can't fault any of the squad,thought they all played very well,the whole forward line in particular were extremely strong which is a big positive as this has been a weak area in previous years

Queso said...

Should defo make the WCQ... but it's a big challenge to win it outright... in fairness though last time we only missed out on getting to the Final by a single goal...

Anonymous said...

It's great to have all this positive talk but failure to beat Poland in 2 games at home is at best very disappointing.

Anonymous said...

Poland are an A division side,yes it's disappointing but from what I saw over the week the Irish side seem to be playing the best hockey i've ever seen them play,fast counter attacks from deep with the forwards having a license to attack at will it seemed

Anonymous said...

That previous comment makes them sound like Newcastle United when Kevin Keegan was the manager & that is not the recipe for success!

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many people here commentating, were actually at the games? Whilst we are all disappointed Ireland lost the final, if you were actually there, you would have seen Ireland were the better team, played the better hockey and created more chances.

Anonymous said...

.....and lost....

Anonymous said...

fairly nice stuff on here... seems people are fairly keen to get on the back of the team despite some good performances.

the win over Japan was great to watch, few mistakes and looked dangerous throughout, the match against Malaysia was great entertainment and showed real grit and determination against a side of full-time professionals.

disappointing not to get the results but performance much better than turgid stuff of last year. Revington's first tournament in charge, initial signs are pretty good.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately sport is a results business these days and no longer are people happy in this country to come 2nd any more. I feel this is ok coz we need to strive to be the best.
IMO it was dissappointing to lose at home in the final and miss out on more world ranking points etc.
But if this is the lesson the team needed to be able to go forward to actually win tournaments then so be it. The next 2 competitions are where it really matters so from my point of view the lads played some really positive hockey and now its time to convert in the next few months.
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Ireland are 18th in world rankings with Poland 20th and we lost to Poland at home twice. I for one expected Ireland to beat Poland twice.

Anonymous said...

when first in the world rankings play third in the rankings,do you expect the number one side to beat the third ranking side every time?no should be the answer to that,the margin between teams at this elite level is so slight,i'm sure nobody expected Japan to get beaten by Ireland or Malaysia the same but we beat them both,congratulations to the boys in green,they obviously played their hearts out and were so unlucky in the end not to come away with the gold medal.

Anonymous said...

Well said 1.15pm.
Surprised at the negativaty here, cut the guys some slack. I do'nt believe those giving out were actually at the games.
Ireland came second, unless I'm mistaken they were the 4th ranked team? And give Poland credit! Unbeaten and awkward as hell to play against.

Anonymous said...

This was a very promising tournament for Ireland. Some of the comments are childish and do no take account of the real world. Many of the Poles play full time on the continent and have a lot of experience, we do not.
Revington has changed the style of play both in defence and attack and it is working well I feel, but does need refining. As for replacing Butler and Hobbs, get real, they played well and probably within their remit. Have the the people commenting coached a team never mind an international team?
Plus get real in world terms we have limited quality to call on so it will take time to develop especially when players have gone to play for other countries.
Lets celebrate this teams success at getting to a final, they are a developing team with a very good coaching team.

Anonymous said...

though hobbs and butler played well throughtout and JJ. thoguht Shaw looked very poor and think McConnell was hard done by to not be put in b4 final where he played well! think jackson played very well aswell! Just because certain players have a lot of caps or are more experienced shouldnt mean younger players like McConnell are left out. one or two slight changes and the midfeiled will be fine! nothing to worry about!

Anonymous said...

Im pretty sure i saw McConnell miss an open goal...

Anonymous said...

i dont think this result is the end of the world after all its from mistakes that you learn most, i feel this will only drive the lads to do better in futre events.