Canada 1-5 Ireland
Ireland have taken a big step towards qualification for this summer’s Women’s FIH Hockey World Cup after a resounding 5-1 win over Canada in Santiago, Chile on Thursday.
The victory for Gareth Grundie’s side ensured a 100% record in Pool B as they successfully followed up earlier wins over Malaysia and Japan.
Ireland will face the yet-to-be-confirmed runners-up from Pool A in the semi-finals on Saturday night at 11.15pm Irish time, with victory sealing qualification for the World Cup.
The Irish team might have beaten Canada with plenty to spare in their final pool game. But they had to fight back from an early deficit when Anna Mollenhauer opened the scoring from a penalty corner in the first quarter.
Ireland had to wait until the latter part of the second quarter to get back on level terms. After Sarah Torrans’ goal levelled things up, they quickly set about grabbing the lead.
That arrived via an Aoife Perdue penalty corner and Ireland did not look back in the second half.
Torrans and Jessica McMaster scored quickfire goals midway through the third quarter to put Ireland 4-1 ahead.
The Green Army put the icing on the cake 11 seconds before the end of the match when Amy Handcock scored from a penalty corner to open her senior international account.