Ireland played France this morning in their second match of the weekend and put in a convincing 4-0 victory in their last test before they compete in the Olympic Qualifiers later this month.
Ireland opened the game creating a few early chances but the French were on their toes to keep the Irish at bay.
France too created more opportunities in the first half than they had in the whole of the match on Friday night .
They tested the Irish defence on a number of occasions including when they won the first penalty corner of the game in the 20th minute, which went wide of Keeper Healy’s post.
The only goal of the half came from O’Brien’s stick in the 33rd minute from a penalty corner, which O’Brien struck well to fire it into the back of the French net for a 1-0 lead at half-time.
Ireland started the second half with more energy and doubled their lead only six minutes in when O’Halloran fed through a great ball for Speers to pick up and drive into the circle for a McKean deflection, which Speers then got a stick to for the conversation.
The Irish girls were not waiting long for their next when a long corner was deflected and saved by the French keeper for Stewart to convert the rebound, an excellent way for her to celebrate her 50th cap today.
The French managed to find their way into the Irish circle on a number of occasions and forced Ireland to concede four short corners in the second half but a sturdy Irish defence saw to it that Ireland kept a clean sheet.
Ireland copper-fastened their victory in the 49th minute when McDonough dribbled along the back line and lobbed the approaching keeper for a superb goal.
Speaking after the game was Coach Muller: 'We did not play with much rhythm today but we managed to score some good goals.'
'France were good opponents for us at this stage, they were battling matches and ideal for us,' he continued.
Ireland start their Olympic Qualifying Tournament on 26 April in Canada.
