Argentina trounce Ireland in second test of two-match series: 4-1 – Hockey Update
The Men’s hockey team of Argentina has emerged triumphant in the second test of the two-match series that took place at the National Hockey Stadium in University College Dublin (UCD) on August 7, 2011. The Irish team lost to Argentina for the second time
in as many days, which are their final fixtures ahead of the European tournament.
Paul Revington – the Irish Men’s hockey team coach while speaking to the media after the match said that the score-line did not represent the actual power of the Irish squad. He also expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of the defensive line. He
stated, “I don't think the score line correctly represents the strength of our game today, while we are disappointed with one defensive error out of the four goals, we are more disappointed with the fact that we did not score from more of our chances during
the game.”
The match was started at very fast and furious speed, as the visiting team wanted to hold off their winning streak while the host squad wanted to break the curse over failures. Both the teams exchanged plenty of attacks in the first fifteen minutes of the
match. However, no goal was scored despite to and fro attacks from either side.
The furious efforts from Ireland paid off in the 21st minute of the match when they earned their first chance. John Jermyn was the player who managed to take the ball inside the 25-yard line and slammed a powerful shot into the goal, opening the
score at 1-0. However, it was the only action from them in the seventy minutes of play. The rest of the play belonged to Argentina which not only ruined the defensive line of Ireland but showed outstanding work on the field.
In a matter of eight minutes, the Argentinean team earned a chance and they had it all even at one-all. Pedro Ibarra of Argentina converted the short corner through a wonderful reverse shot and boosted the morale of visiting team. The first half of play
was completed with both Argentina and Ireland locking horns at one-each.
The second half completely belonged to Argentina which obtained three goals while holding the home team goalless throughout the thirty-five minutes of play. Tomas Innocente found an opportunity and scored off the short corner in the 59th minute
of the match while his team-mate Pedro Ibarra complimented with a goal through a penalty conversion and expanded the lead up to two goals.
With seven minutes into the match, Ignacio Bergner scored a goal from penalty stroke and sealed the victory for Argentina at 4-1.
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