Ireland 1 (Lisa Jacob) Australia 4 (Emily Hurtz 3, Megan Rivers)
Emily Hurtz (pictured, below left) completed her role as Ireland’s tormentor with a trio of close range corner goals in a game defined by a string of set pieces but little excitement from play.
Australia notched seven corners in the first 50 minutes, scoring from four of them, to put this game to bed before Lisa Jacob salvaged a first Irish goal of the series with ten minutes left, again from a corner rebound.
It was the hockeyroos most assertive performance of the week, pinning Ireland in their own 25 for long periods. The packed defence left little space but four corners in the first quarter eventually yielded a 16th minute opener, Nicole Arrold’s switched piledriver ballooning off Louisa Healy’s pads and Hurtz volley home a sharp chance from the rebound.
In response, Ireland breached the Aussie circle for the first time in the 21st minute, Cliodhna Sargent’s dig tipped round the post by Kate Hubble.
It was rare respite and Hurtz doubled up, again from an Arrold crash at a corner. The winger slid in ahead of Ireland’s post woman for a touch and a slow death roll over the line.
Two became three for Australia ten minutes into the second period when Hurtz got a much cleaner deflection at the right post – the third time this week to succeed in that position.
And Megan Rivers completed their tally in the 50th minute from a corner second phase, rolling in on the left post.
Ireland: Louisa Healy, Michelle Harvey, Bridget Cleland, Cliodhna Sargent, Audrey O’Flynn, Emma Clarke, Emma Smyth, Alex Speers, Eimear Cregan, Shirley McCay, Niamh Small
Subs: Lisa Jacob, Julia O’Halloran, Nikki Symmons, Nikki Evans, Sinead McCarthy
Australia: Kate Hubble, Nicole Arrold, Kobie McGurk, Anna Flanagan, Madonna Blyth, Megan Rivers, Emily Hurtz, Fiona Bruce, Ali Boyce, Ashleigh Nelson, Fiona Johnson
Subs: Kary Chau, Shelly Liddelow, Jade Taylor, Kim Walker
* For more of Adrian Boehm's pics from the game, click here.
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