Ireland finished their pools matches with their first victory and in doing so kept a clean sheet.
Ireland started strongly pressing high up the pitch and created a lot of turnovers. From this pressure Ireland won two corners in quick succession within three minutes but two strong shots were well saved by the African keeper. After the opening 20 minutes South Africa started to grow in confidence winning their first corner on 19 minutes. The shot was well saved by keeper Lucy Camlin. Ireland finished the half in the ascendancy with two further corners the third of which was put home superbly from a rebound from tight angle by Lucy McKee (her second goal in as many matches) on 28 minutes. Half time 1-0.
The second half was a more scrappy affair in which Ireland struggled to hold possession for periods turning the ball over. With neither team wanting to give too much away several half chances were created at each end and the only corner of the match went South Africa’s way with four minutes to play but the shot was again dealt with. Ireland had to play out the last few minutes with ten minutes after a yellow card but they wound down the clock in the corner to hold on to their 1-0 advantage.
Manager Una McCarthy was pleased with a win but expressed “we need a more sustained performance in the classification match on Tuesday. Keeping our composure at key times will be critical and maintaining possession for longer periods is another area we need to improve”
