Green army gets ready to conquer

Irish hockey is gearing up for another nail-biting Sunday afternoon’s viewing tomorrow. Having seen the men’s side defeated by Korea in the final seconds of the Olympic qualification playoff in Dublin last week, fans will be hoping the women can go one better when they take on Belgium in the final of the Athlon FIH Road to London Olympic qualifier in Kontich, Belgium tomorrow (3.30pm, live on RTÉ 1/British Eurosport 2). The protagonists having both beaten favourites and 1992 Olympic champions Spain in the pool stages to get here. Curiously, the sides first had to meet in a dead rubber pool stage clash last night, playing out a drab 1-1 draw where giving as little away as possible was the name of the game. For what it’s worth, Chloe Watkins equalised in the first half after Ireland fell behind to a Jill Boon penalty stroke and Belgium looked the sharper in attack, but Ireland coach Gene Muller knows this barely qualified as a dress rehearsal.

“We were fortunate to tie that match as Belgium had most of the possession,” he admitted. “It was a difficult match given the emotional high of the (3-2) win against Spain last night.” The real test of Ireland’s ability to play with the intensity required at this level came against the Spanish, with Muller and captain Alex Speers terming it the biggest win of their Irish careers. “It was the biggest game in the team’s history – but it’ll get upgraded on Sunday,” Muller said. Muller is naturally hoping there’ll be no repeat of what befell the Irish men and his fellow South African, men’s coach Paul Revington. “I just felt enormous compassion for them. As a coach, I’ve lost close games at the end, (but) I’ve never seen anything in hockey so heartbreaking. I really feel for them.” To keep Irish hockey’s Olympic dream alive Ireland will need to have heeded the lessons from a disastrous 3-0 loss to the Belgians at last year’s Europeans, and shut down the dangerous quartet of Charlotte de Vos, Lieselotte van Lindt, Sofie Gierts and Stephanie de Groof. In Ireland’s favour is the obvious improvements that have taken place in what is now a much more settled and cohesive panel. The first signs were shown with the consistency of results against higher-ranked opposition in tournaments in Argentina and South Africa, while the Spanish win was a significant major tournament landmark too. Watkins’ goal yesterday was the first Belgium have conceded at this tournament, however, and Ireland will once again need Audrey O’Flynn (7 goals in 4 games) on the mark at corner time as well as showing the accuracy that led to Alex Speers’ winner against the Spanish. Despite numerous supporters jumping on cheap flights to cheer on the green army, the majority will once again be huddled around a TV as RTE yesterday confirmed it has secured live broadcasting rights for the game. **SFH will provide play-by-play Twitter updates at https://twitter.com/#!/agoodjournalist