Ireland’s tournament hoodoo against France almost resurfaced before Eugene Magee saved the day with the last touch of the match in a 2-2 Champions Challenge II draw in Lille yesterday.
A somewhat experimental Irish panel had already had a warning shot across their bows during their opening pool clash with Scotland on Saturday, when they almost surrendered a three-goal half-time lead before prevailing 3-2.
Having socked the French 7-1 and 6-1 during the recent Celtic Cup and Four Nations tournaments, Ireland had every right to enter their clash with hosts in confident mood.
But France have been Ireland’s bogey side at major tournaments, and a stunning performance from goalkeeper Henri-Julien Lhomme looked set to give France another shock win here.
He pulled off four early saves before Gareth Watkins deceived him with a 17th-minute reverse-stick effort for an Irish lead, only for Matthieu Catonnet’s quick-fire brace — flipping over Irish netminder David Harte after Paul Gleghorne was mugged at right-back, before rattling home a corner — to turn the tables at half time.
Ireland’s penalty corner count went into double figures as they bossed the second period, but the absence of regular drag-flickers John Jermyn, Timmy Cockram and Alan Sothern somewhat nullified the effectiveness of their set-piece, while Lhomme’s brilliance ensured the French goal lived a charmed life.
That was until Ireland’s final short corner — coming after the full-time hooter had sounded — saw Conor Harte’s drag-flick blocked on the line by Yannick Schambert, only for Magee to knock in the rebound and secure a point and a share of the top of the group.
Speaking afterwards, Paul Revington was pleased that his side played right to the final whistle:
“You can lose a game like this through a lack of perseverance but we stuck with it right until the 70th minute so fair play to them. It’s the character that we want in this team,” he said.
Previously, Ireland had got their campaign off to a winning start against the Scots on Saturday.
Conor Harte’s corner goal had catapulted the boys in green into a 3-0 lead just a couple of minutes into the second period after early strikes from Alan Giles and Geoff McCabe.
But Gavin Byers’ neat corner rebound and an Alan Forsyth deflection deceived Harte to make it a tight finish.
Ireland are back in action tomorrow against Russia, with a draw guaranteeing a top-two place in the pool stage and a possibly preferable quarter-final place.