Ireland’s U18 girls went down 2-1 to Lithuania in the first round of the relegation playoffs at the EuroHockey Youth Nations Championships in Nivelles yesterday.
Mary Logue’s side, ranked fourth going into the tournament, now find themselves needing to defeat Russia — who top the table in the relegation pool — today (8am Irish time) to avoid losing their A division status.
All the goals came in the closing ten minutes, with Gillian Pinder latching onto Chloe Watkins’ ball to give Ireland the lead in the 60th minute. However, Lithuania struck twice in the closing minutes to turn the game on its head.
There was better news for the boys, however,as they saw off Wales 1-0 in the semi-finals of the Trophy competition in Vienna, securing their A division status for 2011 in the process.
Skipper Stu Loughrey latched onto a pinpoint cross from Kyle Good for the winner four minutes from time, to send the Irish into a final meeting against France tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s senior men continue their bid to win the inaugural Champions Challenge II tournament on home soil when they meet Malaysia in the last four today.
it was karl lynch who crossed the ball for stuart loughreys goal not kyle good
well done karl ba
hayes kid!