Australia takes Ireland down 4-2 in INSEP Hockey Challenge – Hockey Update
Chris Ciriello notched a couple of goals and had an assist, as the Men’s hockey team of Australia powered a convincing 4-2 win over Ireland in the Day-II game of the Five-Nation INSEP Hockey Challenge being held on July 27, 2011 at the National Institute
of Sports (INSEP) in Paris.
Despite the fact that Jamie Dwyer and Mark Knowles were not part of the Kookaburras squad, they rendered fantastic performance and won the maiden fixture of the five-nation encounter. It was an impressive start from the Aussies who neither impressed the
players nor the onlookers in the recently concluded Four-Nation held in Germany.
Australia and Ireland – the 1st and 19th ranked teams entered the field in quite offensive way in order to improve the record in the mega fixture. Regardless of far-away ranking, the Irish team gave tough time to Aussies. They were
flying at the high after taking the 6th ranked Korea down in the first day fixture by four goals, 5-1.
Kookaburras opened the game in quite a fast style and established their lead in the very early minutes of the match. Mark Paterson from New South Wales (NSW) managed to drive the ball through the 25-yard line of Ireland and volleyed a low-flying shot at
the goal. In the retaliated action, the Irish men created a short corner but failed to pass through Australian custodian.
Both Australians and Irish were playing a fast-paced game and the latter one dominated the field with the ball possession. However, they failed to hold back the dominance for a long time. In the 21st minute of the match, Jacob Whetton received
a productive pass from David Harte in the mid-field position and sent a powerful shot into the goal, 2-0.
Peter Caruth and Cargo from the Irish side made some penetrations into the defensive circle of Australia but to no avail. Both teams moved into the second half with Australia holding a 2-0 lead.
In the second half, the Australian players resumed play at a similar fast speed and converted a short corner in the 37th minute of the match. Chris Ciriello was the player earned the first goal for the Aussies and stretched the lead up to three
goals. Other the other hand, the Australian defenders kept the Irish men again at bay throughout the second half and made the commanding win possible.
The Irish squad missed a chance in the 40th minute when Caruth failed to score a goal on a penalty conversion. The Aussies scored off another short corner in the hands of Ciriello in the 50th minute and sealed the victory at 4-2. The
Irish strikers remained unimpressive in the remaining 20 minutes and lost the Five-Nation match.
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