EuroHockey Indoor Championship II, Women: Sunday Feb 11 - Final/ Day 3 Report
IRL Indoor Women beat Lithuania in thrilling finish to take Gold at EuroHockey Indoor Championship II in Galway
Day 3 began in Galway with a pool game between Croatia and Sweden.
CROATIA 7 SWEDEN 4
These two teams produced an 11-goal thriller for the early arrivals at the Kingfisher Centre in Galway. Iskra Bedenko opened the scoring for Croatia after 12 minutes to put them 1-0 up. Dora Jelcic added a second a minute later to leave them 2-0 up but Sweden responded through Laetitia Schrader who converted a penalty stroke in the 17th minute, 2-1 Croatia heading to half time. Lucija Buzjak converted a penalty corner in the 19th minute to make it 3-1 and Martina Petretic converted another penalty corner to leave the half time score Croatia 4 Sweden 1. Petra Hrupec scored again for Croatia in the 22nd minute to make it 5-1 and then Sweden got awarded a penalty stroke which Klara Moberg converted in the 29th minute to make it 5-2. Croatia responded through Sasha Abramovic in the 30th minute to make it 6-2 but Sweden converted a penalty corner by Emilia Kalling-Smith in the 31st minute to reduce the deficit to 6-3. Klara Moberg converted another penalty corner for the Swedes in the 38th minute and Iskra Bedenko rounded off the scoring in the final minute for Croatia to leave the final score Croatia 7 Sweden 4.
PORTUGAL 3 SLOVAKIA 3
Portugal picked up their first point of the Pool II A of the European Indoor Championship in Galway by holding Slovakia to a 3-3. The Slovaks had surprisingly held Ireland to a 5-5 draw in the final game of Saturday's action. Portugal were awarded a penalty stroke in the 8th minute converted by Ana Nogueira . Slovakia responded in the 9th minute through Barbora Pucherova from open play to make it 1-1. Slovakia made it 2-1 when Karolina Vyskocova got the first of her two goals on the day converting a 13th minute penalty corner. Portugal equalised in the 15th minute through Duianiela Nunes from open play. Ana Nogueira got her second goal of the game for Portugal in the 15th minute when she converted a penalty corner to give Portugal a 3-2 lead. Slovakia secured a share of the spoils in the 39th minute when Karoline Vyskocova converted a penalty corner to leave the final score Portugal 3 Slovakia 3.
IRELAND 5 LITHUANIA 1
Ireland went into their final pool match of the tournament trailing leaders Lithuania by 2 points with a simple mission. Nothing less than a win over Lithuania would be good enough to secure promotion to the top tier of European Indoor Hockey. There was no scoring at all in the first quarter. All the goals in this game came in the hectic final 10 minutes. Dovile Juraite opened the scoring for Lithuania in the 20th minute and Lithuania led 1-0 at half time. Orla Fox converted a penalty corner to get Ireland on level terms in the 31st minute. 1-1 a final result like this would have given Lithuania the title, however.
Lithuania's hero Dovile Juraite quickly became a villain. She was yellow carded in 32nd minute and Ireland fired in a few goals while her team were shorthanded. Chloe Brown converted the penalty corner in the 32nd minute to make it 2-1 to Ireland. Milla Fulton scored from open play in the 34th minute to make it 3-1 to Ireland. Chloe Brown converted her second penalty corner of the day to make it 4-1 to Ireland in the 35th minute and in the 39th minute Ireland were awarded a penalty stroke which Orla Fox converted to make the final score 5-1. This put Ireland in first place by one point and secured the gold medal in this tournament plus the right to play in the higher echelon of European Indoor Hockey in the next tournament.
IRELAND:- Emma Buckley (GK ) ; Sarah Patton, Mikayla Power, Chloe Brown, Orla Fox , Milla Fulton
SUBS USED : Kate Hora [39 mins GK] ; Laura Graham [4 mins] Orla Patton (C) [ 4 mins] Orla Macken [22 mins] Ellen Robinson [ 7 mins]
FINAL STANDING
IRELAND 1st place 13 points +21 Goal difference
LITHUANIA 2nd place 12 points +12 goal difference
CROATIA 3rd place 9 points +5 goal difference
SLOVAKIA 4th place 5 points -4 goal difference
SWEDEN 5th place 3 points -10 goal difference
PORTUGAL 6th place 1 point -24 goal difference
