Ireland’s U18 boys were left to rue the concession of late goals against England and France as they were agonisingly relegated from the top division of the Volvo EuroHockey U18 Championships in Utrecht yesterday.
Turloch Ó Siocháin’s charges twice blew a two-goal lead against the French on Saturday in game one of the ‘relegation pool’ before being reeled in for a 3-3 draw.
Skipper Ian Sloan then scored two stunning goals against England — the gifted Cookstown man, already a senior cap, netted seven of Ireland’s 10 goals at the tournament — but Ireland were undone in cruel fashion as England hit a winner with the last touch of the game.
That 3-2 defeat saw Ireland finish in their pre-tournament seeding of seventh, and they have been relegated along with Russia to the B division in 2013.
Ireland U18 girls are still searching for an elusive European bronze medal, after losing 4-1 to both Germany and England in their classification matches.
They emerged from their pool against the odds for the third time in four tournaments, but they are still without a victory at the business end of European competition.
A Katie Mullan strike had them level at 1-1 against the Germans in Saturday’s semi-final, but they were left to rue a couple of costly turnovers while England always had the Irish at arm’s length despite Lucy McKee’s goal in the bronze medal playoff loss yesterday. Fourth place nonetheless matches their best-ever finishes, achieved in 2005 and 2007.