Goalkeeper David Harte’s late penalty stroke save earned Ireland a 0-0 draw with Poland on the opening day of the Five Nations tournament in Paris today.
Seeking to gain revenge for their Champions Challenge II final defeat on strokes to the Poles last summer, Paul Revington’s men Ireland dominated the game for large periods.
However, John Jermyn’s absence proved a problem at penalty corner time, where seven efforts went astray.
Poland looked set to escape with an unlikely victory when they were awarded a stroke with three minutes to go.
But Harte – who has minutes earlier push a corner around the post with a smart stick-save, his first of the game – guessed right to keep Ireland in it.
And there was still time for Ireland to see another corner effort thwarted in the final 60 seconds.
Assistant coach Arul Anthoni said “Hopefully we will continue managing our defence play like we did today, and in our last four matches against Malaysia.
“This particular defensive concept will take us forward as a team, and we look forward to playing against France tomorrow evening.”
Ireland take on hosts France today (5pm Irish time), hoping for a repeat of the performance of the 7-0 rout of Les Bleus which won the Celtic Cup in Le Touquet earlier this summer.
