India went down 2-1 to Ireland and ended up in eighth place in Women’s Hockey World League Semifinal here on Saturday.
Despite having held the upper hand throughout the match, India conceded two goals in the final quarter.
India started the first quarter rather slowly, but shifted the gears 10 minutes into the game. Ireland won the first penalty corner of the match, but Monika though was brilliant at the goal-line to defend the drag-flick with her stick.
That seemed to serve as a wake-up call for India.
In the 15th minute, Gurjit Kaur successfully a penalty corner with a well-executed flick, firing the ball low to the left to give India a 1-0 lead.
There was plenty of entertainment in the second quarter, which India dominated with some improvised circle penetrations.
During one such circle entry in the 24th minute, Navjot Kaur was obstructed by Ireland goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran which resulted in the latter being sent away with a yellow card for 10 minutes, and India was awarded a penalty stroke. However, Ireland’s stand-in goalkeeper Grace O’Flanagan made a great save to thwart India.
India lost another opportunity to double their lead when a goal in the 28th minute was disallowed as it had come off the stick-back of Indian striker Rani.
In the second half, India won back-to-back penalty-corners in the 31st minute. But those were squandered too, as were a couple more in the third quarter. In one instance, Rani’s flick was blocked away by O’Flanagan.
Although Ireland attackers made brave forays into the circle and attempted shots on goal, goalkeeper Savita was on top of her job.
However, less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, Ireland levelled the score with a variation on their penalty-corner attempt that saw Kathryn Mullan finding the perfect deflection to put it past Savita.
In the very next minute, Ireland pumped in its second goal through another penalty corner, converted this time by Lizzie Colvin.
India worked hard, but the Irish defence stood strong to see the match through.
The result: Ireland 2 (Kathryn Mullan 47, Lizzie Colvin 48) bt India 1 (Gurjit Kaur 15) .
