Irish make winning starts on home turf

Ireland’s U18 boys and girls made heavy weather of their opening Four Nations fixtures at Garryduff in Cork earlier today, but ultimately both outfits can be happy with winning starts to their campaigns. It was a tale of two halves for the U18 boys in their opener against Scotland, as they almost let a three-goal half-time advantage slip from their grasp, before going on to win 4-2. Vice-captain Shane O’Donoghue helped himself to all four of those goals, showing why he was Glenanne’s top scorer from play last season – just one of his quartet came from a set-piece.

That came inside 90 seconds, when O’Donoghue dragged low and hard to the backboard from Ireland’s second corner. He should have had another minutes later, after Luke Chadwick had taken out the Scottish keeper Greig Cunningham, but the Dubliner topped his reverse with an unguarded goal gaping. The game settled down thereafter, albeit with an obvious Irish dominance, apart from when Scotland’s Ben Peterson saw a corner frustratingly given in his favour after he’d rounded Irish netminder Robert Fitzgerald. That was an indicated of the danger provided by Peterson, but his chance to shine came later on. First, O’Donoghue went on a mission to make amends for his earlier miss, with two goals in as many minutes just before the break. The first saw him drift across the circle from left to right, before blasting a rocket back across Cunningham to the bottom corner. Then, local boy Nick Burns took down an aerial and fed O’Donoghue, whose reverse from the very edge of the D was hard and true en route to the top left corner. But after half-time, Ireland fell asleep, and allowed Scotland to catch them on the counter. Peterson picked up the ball just beyond halfway and gave Tom Samuel – who otherwise was an assured presence in the Irish rearguard – twisted blood, before bettering O’Donoghue’s previous reverse with an effort over Fitzgerald’s shoulder from a tight angle. And on 47 minutes, he did the damage again, collecting Peter Baldwin’s centre and clinically cutting inside to reverse to the bottom corner. Ireland’s nerves were clearly frayed, though in Ben Dobson, captain Ian Sloan and Chadwick they had some calming influences. And when the Scots’ Iain Duke was sin-binned for hacking down Chadwick with nine minutes remaining, the life fell out of their challenge. Ireland finally made sure of victory when Burns steamed down the left and got to the baseline, before flipping the ball back on his reverse to O’Donoghue, who had plenty of time to bury his second reverse-stick effort of the day to the bottom corner. Ireland have England up next tomorrow (2pm), in a game that looks likely to go a long way to deciding the destination of the title, given England’s 5-0 demolition of Wales this morning. Meanwhile, Ireland’s girls gave their supporters far too many nervous moments in their 2-0 defeat of Wales, spurning a hatful of chances before eventually grabbing an insurance strike late on.

When Nicola Gray’s perfectly-placed short corner bullet rattled the backboard on five minutes, Ireland appeared to have given themselves a platform for a straightforward win. Wales struggled throughout to get out of their own danger area – making only two meaningful incursions into the Irish half in the second period – as Ireland’s press continually wore them down. But with goalkeeper Rosanne Thomas in inspired form – she brilliantly thwarted five well-struck corners from Gray, and a Rebecca Barry drag-flick – Wales kept the tie alive. Ireland were too often profligate of the mountains of possession they received, too often overcomplicating matters in a game where the ball seemingly wouldn’t go in. The bulk of the best things they did went through right-back Aisling Naughton, midfield general Dora Gorman and the clever runs and layoffs of Naomi Carroll up front. But when Vanessa Surgeoner saw yellow for backchat, an obviously nervous home crowd’s fears of a mugging  from the visitors grew. No sooner was Surgeoner restored to the action than Leah Ewert was sent to the sideline for deliberate obstruction, but even during a 17-minute period with ten players, Ireland still largely dominated. Skipper Deirdre Duke was somehow thwarted by Thomas from point-blank range at the back post, before Emily Beatty – another to shine in green – took out the Welsh keeper and squared for the onrushing Ewert, only for Welsh captain Lucy Thayer to get a crucial diving touch to avert the danger. Surgeoner was unfairly receiving a hard time from Welsh boo-boys in the crowd, but she silenced them in appropriate style via classy finish with six minutes remaining. Gorman again was the destructive element as Wales attempted to pass their way out of trouble, and fed the Randalstown hitwoman a bouncing ball on the left. Sugeoner then succeeded where many of the Irish attackers had failed, by keeping her composure to skilfully dink the ball over the onrushing Thomas’s legs, the spin on the ball taking it in off the far upright.

England recorded 2-1 wins over both Wales and Scotland inside 24 hours, meaning they hold the aces going into tomorrow’s clash with the Irish (6pm). Josie Inverdale, daughter of renowned BBC sports broadcaster John, was the key to their success over the Scots. The latter had taken a shock lead through Heather Elder, who chased down a lost cause and first-timed into the far corner from a near-impossible angle for one of the goals of the tournament. But Inverdale hauled England level with a pinpoint corner shot, before providing the guile in the best move of a poor match, picking out Suzy Petty, who reversed home for the winner with three minutes to go. Victory tomorrow will guarantee England a winner’s medal, while an Irish victory or a draw will sends the hosts into their final game with the Scots knowing exactly what they need to do to win the tournament. Ondine Roche’s pictures from today’s action to follow U18 Four Nations, Cork Boys England 5 (George Lilley, Jack Hardy, Nick Bandurak, Nick Giles, Ross Gilham Jones) Wales 0 Ireland 4 (Shane O’Donoghue 4) Scotland 2 (Ben Peterson 2) Girls England 2 Wales 1 England 2 (Josie Inverdale, Suzy Beatty) Scotland 1 (Heather Elder) Ireland 2 (Nicola Gray, Vanessa Surgeoner) Wales 0