Holland deny plucky Irish

The Netherlands again proved to be a thorn in the side of an Irish underage side, recording a 3-1 victory in the girls in green’s first ever Youth Olympic Games encounter at Singapore’s SengKang Stadium this morning. Dave Passmore’s charges were unlucky not to claim a share of the spoils having matched the Dutch in terms of chances created, but the Oranje – featuring six of the U16 European championship-winning side – proved to be more clinical. Early on, the sides matched up pretty evenly with the Dutch holding more possession while the Irish created clearer chances with two corner efforts denied.

Jenna Holmes saved well from the first Dutch corner in the 18th minute but, four minutes later, Floortje Plokker scored the first goal in the competition’s history when smashing in a reverse from the edge of the circle. Emily Beatty went close in the aftermath to level – her lobbed effort going just wide – while Elise Nix and Roos Broek were sin-binned. But Beatty did get the decisive touch after the break, completing a fine passing move down the right wing to deflect home at the far post. Broek had the Netherlands back in front within 120 seconds, however, before Frederique Derkx flicked home the insurance goal after the game had been halted for 30 minutes due to a lightning storm. Despite the defeat, coach Passmore was enthused by the first competitive international for this U17 selection. “It was an excellent performance in so many ways that we need to learn from the little things that turn games,” he said. “Given that we pretty much matched the Dutch for chances the girls were disappointed not to get a result. We need to build on the performance tomorrow playing with the same intensity and results will follow.” Manager Una McCarthy echoed Passmore’s sentiments: “The girls played to the game plan and showed the young talent that we have in the team, it was a tremendous honour to be playing the first ever Olympic hockey match at this level and the team matched the occasion with a fitting performance.” Ireland play their next tie at 11am Irish time tomorrow against New Zealand. For more of Ahmad Iskandar’s photos from the game between Ireland and the Netherlands and to follow the tournament, click here.