Argentina’s Las Leonas outclass Ireland 4-1 in their first friendly match in Dublin, Ireland
The reigning World Champions and World Number one Argentina’s Las Leonas have continued their brilliant winning momentum in Europe as they outclassed their Irish counterparts by 4-1 in the first of the two friendly matches played at the University College
Dublin (UCD).
Las Leonas who recently are on the European tour are looking in a great touch as they defeated the Spanish ladies in the first of their two matches by 4-1 while the second one was ended in a draw at 1-1 before travelling to Ireland. The team will fly to
Monchengladbach, Germany to participate in the EuroHockey Nations Championships which is going to be played from August 20.
Las Leonas dominated the most part of the match as they beautifully controlled the ball throughout the match and dictated the Irish ladies on their own terms by scoring twice in each of the halves whereas the Irish outfits could score only one goal in the
entire match.
"These games are useful for us as we benefit off their quickness and sharpness. I was quite happy with the interplay of our forwards today but defensively we were average. Overall, I am very happy that we have the opportunity to play these matches,” Gene
Muller, the Irish coach, commented after the match.
The first half started with a sensational action by the Argentineans as they took the early lead just five minutes into the first half when Maria Barrionuevo scored the opening goal of the match in the fifth minute on a penalty corner. Going down by a single
goal at the early stages of the match the Irish women tried hard to find the Argentinean net but they remained unsuccessful in doing so.
On the other side Las Leonas consistently continued their efforts and kept on attacking the Irish goalpost which brought the desired results just moments before the interval when Carla Rebecchi doubled the lead in the 35th minute. The score was
2-0 to Argentina at the interval.
The start of the second half was almost the replica of the first half as the Irish ladies succeeded in bringing down the Argentinean lead to a single strike just three minutes into the second half when Julia O’Halloran scored the first Irish goal in the
38th minute but Las Leonas replied just two minutes after the Irish goal and scored their third goal in the 40th minute, thanks to Agustina Garcia who made a wonderful strike. Las Leonas did not stop their efforts as they continued pressing
the Irish defence in the remaining time and scored their fourth goal seven minutes after the third one when Rosario Luchetti contributed to score board in the 47th minute that lasted until the end.
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