Irish junior hockey teams thrashed by Netherlands in the Euro Hockey U-18 Youth Championships
The Irish Under-18 Girls’ and Boys’ teams were thrashed by theirs Dutch counter-parts in the opening matches of the Volvo Euro Hockey U-18 Youth Championships which is being played in Utrecht, Netherlands from July 12 to July 17. The Girls’ junior team was
defeated by 4-0, while the Boys' junior team was defeated by four goals to one.
The Irish girls seemed no match for the Dutch girls who were sensational during the entire match, especially in the first half in which they scored all the four goals, whereas the Irish girls could not make a single strike throughout the match.
The first half started with the Dutch girls controlling the game very well from the starting whistle to the end, but the real action started happening from the 16thminute and continued until the interval. Netherlands opened their account in the
16th minute when Frederique Derkx scored the opener on a penalty-stroke, while minutes after the first goal, Marloes Keetels, the Dutch skipper, doubled the lead by a beautiful goal. The Dutch girls continued with the same fashion and created many
chances, but their third strike came into play in 25th minute, when Liselotte van Mens further increased their lead while the fourth and final goal was scored a minute before the interval and the scorer was Sian Keil. In the second half there was
not as such action as in the first half and the match finished at 4-0 to Netherlands.
Meanwhile, the Irish boys too did not match the class of the Dutch young guns and lost by 4-1. Although they fought very hard, especially in the first 35 minutes, where they remained at level with the Dutch, but the second half was clearly for the Dutch
athletes in which they scored three goals.
In the first half, both the opponents were neck-to-neck and the game was evenly balanced in the first twenty minutes. However, it was Netherlands that ticked the scoreboard first in the 22nd minute, beautiful goal by Milan van Baal, but the Irish
boys made the equaliser in the 25th minute and the score lasted until the interval.
The second half started with an action from Netherlands, when Roderic Schwirtz put the Dutch boys ahead of Ireland in the 37th minute, while Dennis Warmerdam doubled the lead in the 60th minute which was further increased by Hajo Meijer
in the last minute of the match.
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