Head injury ends Harte’s tournament

Ireland will have to plan without key centre-back Conor Harte for the remainder of their Electric Ireland FIH Road to London Olympic qualification campaign, it emerged this morning. The Cork man was stretchered off and taken to hospital in Dublin on Tuesday night after shipping a heavy blow to the head when he was hit by a raised ball in Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with tournament favourites Korea. Harte was kept in overnight for observation and the Irish Hockey Association this morning confirmed he will take no further part in the tournament following medical advice. Ireland’s fate is very much in their own hands as they head into the business end of the tournament having taken seven points from a possible nine and racked up a plus 17 goal difference.

While there is a temptation for Ireland to look to Saturday’s crunch clash with second seeds Malaysia, there’s the small matter of seeing off the 26th-ranked Chileans tonight (6pm) first. Ireland will be unbackable favourites against a side whose geographical isolation in the hockey world puts them at a disadvantage in terms of exposure to top-level games, but skipper Ronan Gormley is taking their threat seriously. “We won’t be looking at Malaysia until we’ve done our homework on Chile. They’ve come from halfway across the world but have picked up a couple of games here which will have improved them. We’ll have to improve our own performances to look after that problem.” Ireland’s mantra at this tournament has been that they are mainly focusing on factors within their own control however, with discipline the main watchword after the Korea stalemate. The hosts spent the best part of 20 minutes down to 10 men as they shipped two yellow and three green cards, and forward Eugene Magee admitted they’ll have to pull their socks up on that front. “We matched Korea’s high tempo and we should have bettered our performance. With better discipline in the next match we’ll get a more favourable result.” Belgium-based Down native Magee also dismissed the notion that his side were on edge against the world number six outfit, resulting in a number of unforced errors in a low-key Irish performance. “We were coming in on the back of a 12-0 win (over Ukraine) and our confidence was high,” he said. “We knew Korea and their tactics and the details about them, and were confident going into the game. I wouldn’t say we were nervous at all.” Ireland will look on with interest when Korea and Malaysia meet before their game tomorrow (3.30pm). Should the Malaysians eke out a shock win, they would be through to Sunday’s final with a game to spare. Meanwhile, having seen the largest attendance at a hockey international in modern times watch Tuesday’s Ireland v Korea encounter, the IHA yesterday confirmed today and Saturday’s games are both sell-outs. FIH Electric Ireland Road to London Olympic qualifier, UCD Today: Russia v Ukraine, 1pm; Korea v Malaysia, 3.30pm; Ireland v Chile, 6pm.