Ireland 1 (N Daly) Korea 3 (H Kim, E Cheon, J Kang)
A tight opening half had the two teams 0-0 at half
time despite both sides having a few chances to score. A brilliant pass by
Roisin Upton in the first quarter gave Chloe Watkins a shot at the Korean goal,
but Korean goalkeeper Soo Ji Jang managed to get her foot to the ball
preventing Ireland getting on the scoreboard. Yuri Lee from Korea also found a
chance for herself at the opposite end of the pitch, although McFerran was on
hand to keep the match nil all. The Green Army seemed to progress as the quarter
advanced but the Korean defence remained strong throughout.
The second quarter saw a lovely chance for
O’Flanagan, provided by a pass from Deirdre Duke, however Korea’s Jang saved it
well. A Penalty Corner for Korea and Hyoju An managed to shoot for the goal but
McFerran saved and sent it out wide. Brown provided an excellent pass to Upton
who’s drag flick saw the ball in the back of the goal, however an obstruction
caused the goal to be disallowed.
Shirley McCay and Zoe Wilson provided noticeable
interceptions in the lead up to half time. While McFerran was more active
throughout this match than any other over the tournament in Banbridge and her
skills were put to good use.
Ireland really applied the pressure in the opening
minutes of the third quarter but a robust defence by Korea kept them at bay. As
the quarter progressed Korea seemed to up the tempo and Hannah Matthews and
Roisin Upton became instrumental in Ireland’s play.
The final quarter provided goals from Hyunji Kim and
Eunbi Cheon before Nicola Daly managed to get one over the line in a third
attempt in an Ireland Penalty Corner. Although Ireland’s decision to pull the
goalkeeper to increase their outfield numbers proved un-advantageous as Korea’s
Kang managed to put the ball in an empty net to seal the win.
Despite the result the Irish Women’s Olympic
qualification ambitions remain unscathed with the squad safely through to a
direct qualifier in the Autumn.
Speaking on the match, Interim Head Coach Gareth
Grundie said, “Overall we played well. I felt like we were the better side for
the first three quarters. Korea started very well and were very strong in the
final quarter. It wasn’t to be today.”
In terms of what’s to come and how he’s found his
time as Head Coach, Gareth said “I’ve really enjoyed the last few months. We’ve
made lots of progress and the girls have been great, as have the staff, so
we’re in a good position moving forwards.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do
in the coming months and working with Sean [Dancer]. We’ve Europeans and an
Olympic qualifier to look forward to so the focus will now move to those.”
The FIH Series Finals individual player awards were
awarded as follows:
Hero Top Scorer - Anna O’Flanagan (6 Goals), IRL,
#26
Best Player - Anna O’Flanagan, IRL, #26
Best Junior Player - Yohanna Lhopital, FRA, #8
Best Goalkeeper - Mathilde Petriaux, FRA, #31
Ireland: A McFerran, R Upton, K Mullan, S McCay, B
Barr, C Watkins, L Colvin, N Daly, H Matthews, A O’Flanagan, Z Wilson
Subs: C Brown, L Tice, G Pinder, S Hawkshaw, D Duke,
A Meeke, E Buckley.
Korea: S J Jang, Y Lee, H An, E Cheon, J Kang, E
Cho, Y Lee, H Jang, H Cho, H Shin, S Lee
Subs: J Seo, S J Choi, S Kim, E Yu, H Kim, S Kang, Y
Choi.
