Jacob fires Ireland into last four

Ireland progressed safely into the semi-finals of the women’s Champions Challenge II in Kazan, Russia with a nervy 1-0 win over Malaysia that saw them top their pool today. Enniscorthy native Lisa Jacob deflected Shirley McCay’s strike high into the ent from Ireland’s second corner, for her second goal of the tournament. Ireland will now take on Pool A runners-up Belgium in the semi-finals on Friday (3pm Irish time), with Ukraine clashing with India – who have a 100% record so far – in the other semi-final. Despite watching a couple of defensive lapses give the Malaysians plenty of short corner opportunities to reel in the deficit, Irish coach Gene Muller was happy to have made it into the last four.

“Malaysia is a greatly improved side and it was a difficult test. Our defence has been superb over the last three matches and we survived their attacks and corners. We are in the last four which is where we were aiming to be after the pool stages.” Nonetheless, Irish skipper Eimear Cregan of Cork Harlequins was once again conspicuous by her absence, with an ankle strain that has thus far kept her out of action in the tournament. Ireland had got off to a perfect start at the weekend in a 4-0 rout of hosts Russia. All the Irish goals came during a dominant first-half performance. Nikki Symmons dispatched a 10th-minute drag-flick before Gene Muller’s side took advantage of a Russian sin-binning to put the result beyond doubt. Lizzie Colvin tapped in her first international goal after a mazy Alex Speers run, before Symmons’ disguised slap-shot made it three. Jacob deflected home an Emma Clarke ball for four just before the break. A 1-1 draw with the Ukraine on Monday – with Colvin getting Ireland’s equaliser three minutes after the Ukrainians had taken a second-half lead – had put Ireland on track for a semi-final spot. Meanwhile, Ireland U18 girls shared their three-game series with their English counterparts in Manchester. A 3-0 win, thanks to strikes from Leinster trio Ali Meeke, Deirdre Duke and Niamh Atcheler was followed by a 2-2 draw on Saturday, with Meeke and Connacht starlet Katie Codyre scoring. The latter scored again in the final clash yesterday, but could not prevent Mary Logue’s side from falling to a 4-1 defeat.