Congratulations again to Irish Men’s Hockey on winning their World League 2 competition and who can now look forward to a shot at Olympic qualification in Argentina where they will be part of a ten-team tournament with potentially six tickets to Rio de Janeiro on the line.Player of the tournament Shane O’Donoghue was once again the goal-scoring hero as his 35th minute goal saw Ireland beat Austria 2-1 in San Diego, capping a superb week with a sixth successive victory.As a result of Craig Fulton’s side’s impressive exploits, they will travel to World League round three in Buenos Aires, Argentina in June to compete for an Olympic berth – the primary goal from this tournament.They did in style, winning the competition with a perfect record, scoring 29 times and conceding just five goals. They also won all the players awards with O’Donoghue, with six key goals, the tournament’s top man while David Harte got the goalkeeper prize.Ireland’s semi-final win over Canada meant the pressure was off to some extent with qualification for the next phase of the competition assured and they duly got off to a flyer in the final. Mitch Darling scored when he got on the end of Conor Harte’s searching pass for a second minute lead.It only lasted a short while, though, as Michael Korper roofed Austria’s second penalty corner with just four minutes on the clock as the sides played a much more open tie than when they met in the group stages.Darling and Bruce McCandless went close to restoring the Irish lead, the former hitting the side-netting early in the second quarter. Austria, meanwhile, were sitting half-court and playing on the break and looked dangerous on the counter, drawing the best from David Harte.The tie soon got fractious with Chris Cargo, Kirk Shimmins, Patrick Stanzl and Bartosz Szmidt spending time in the sin-bin before half-time. Three more players shipped green cards in the third quarter while Leon Thornblom took a yellow for a foul on Peter Caruth.Ireland retook the lead during this phase from a penalty corner that Conor Harte dummied, allowing the ball to be switched to O’Donoghue who shot through Michael Mantler’s defences.David Harte saved an Austrian corner at the far end to retain the narrow lead going into the final quarter. Ireland let one corner slip before Austria got a set piece chance to level the game with four minutes to go but Korper’s effort was brilliantly charged down.Both sides ended with ten men as Korper and Alan Sothern were shown yellow cards down the final stretch as Ireland closed out the tournament victory.They can now look forward to a shot at Olympic qualification in Argentina where they will be part of a ten-team tournament with potentially six tickets to Rio de Janeiro on the line.Ireland: D Harte, J Jackson, R Gormley, M Watt, C Cargo, A Sothern, E Magee, M Darling, P Gleghorne, C Harte, S O’DonoghueSubs: J Bell, S Dowds, P Caruth, K Shimmins, B McCandless, D CarlisleAustria: M Mantler, F Zeidler, S Eitenberger, M Korper, D Frohlich, B Szmidt, B Stanzl, F Steyrer, R Bele, M Minar, D UherSubs: M Podpera, A Bele, P Schmidt, L Thornblom, P Stanzl, J HeimansTo learn about how the teams progress through the competition in the hope of reaching the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, click here.
Complete tournament information from San Diego can be found on the official tournament microsite.
Final Standings:
1: Ireland – Qualified for Semi-Finals of Hockey World League
2: Austria – Qualified for Semi-Finals of Hockey World League
3: Canada – Qualified for Semi-Finals of Hockey World League
4: Russia
5: Chile
6: Italy
7: USA
8: Trinidad & Tobago
Individual Awards:
Player of the Tournament: Shane O’Donoghue (IRL)
Top Scorer: Pat Harris (USA) – 7 goals
Young Player of the Tournament: Francesco Padovani (ITA)
Goalkeeper of the Tournament: David Harte (IRL)
