Second match of the series between Ireland and Wales ends in a draw, 2-2: Hockey News
The second match of the three-Test series between Ireland and Wales, which was played at University College Dublin (UCD), in Dublin, Ireland, ended in a draw by 2-2.
The match started with great action and the first half was played with amazing pace. Although both the teams played good hockey, the Welsh side had more chances as compared to the hosts. They made some wonderful moves, but remained goal-less until the closing
minutes of the first half. In the 30th minute they finally managed to make a break-through by crossing the defence-line of the Irish team and scored the first goal of the match, thus taking the lead at the end of first half by 1-0.
The Irish team too created their chances, but remained fruitless in the first half as the score remained 1-0 to Wales at the interval.
The Irish team came back strongly in the second half after the early disaster in the opening stanza. Although they had their best chance in the early moments of the second half yet they remained unsuccessful in the initial minutes of the second half. But
the Welsh side scored their second goal on another penalty-corner and made their doubled their lead. However, soon after the second goal from Wales, the Irish team managed to score their first goal and reduced the lead of Wales to 2-1.
The Irish team continued to put more and more pressure on their opponents and finally the efforts paid off as they scored the equaliser in the 59th minute. It was Jermyn who brought the Irish team back into the match.
“I am very pleased with the chances they created and eventually converting a couple of opportunities in the second half. The game was played at a high tempo with plenty of two touch hockey. We need to work to finish off the passes in the final third but
we look forward to the third and the final match and the players will be raring to go,” Arul Anthoni, the assistant coach of the Irish side expressed his views.
In the last ten minutes, Ireland persistently maintained good pressure and they had a number of good chances, but remained unfortunate to some extent. No further goal was scored in the allotted time and the match finished in draw at the score of 2-2.
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