Ireland 4-1 Chile
Sunday, 15 November 2009Ireland continued the momentum to their World Cup Qualifying campaign on Sunday with a 4-1 victory over Chile.
Ireland dominated the opening exchanges but against the run of play it was the South Americans who opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a switched penalty corner drag flick from Thomas Kannegiesser.
Ireland swamped their opponents half for the remainder of the period but despite being awarded seven penalty corners, Ireland attempts were rebuffed by the Chilean defence.
Within two minutes of the restart Ireland were back on level terms from an Alan Sothern deflection to a hard driven cross by Graham Shaw.
Ireland pushed relentlessly for goal but it took until the 61st minute for them to find the net for the second time.
It was John Jermyn that finished off some fine combination play by forwards inside the circle.
Alan Sothern wrapped the game up in the 67th and 69th minutes with two excellent drag flicks to complete his hat-trick, the second in successive games from an Irish forward.
This was a much improved performance by Ireland and sets them well for their next match against Belgium on Tuesday.
