Ireland 2-0 Poland
Ireland’s women beat Poland in Johannesburg to copper-fasten a place in the quarter-finals of the Hockey World League Semi-Final with a game to spare.
Goals from Nikki Evans and Gillian Pinder proved the difference for the Green Army, who kept battling away against a Poland side intent on defending deep and making things difficult for Graham Shaw’s side.
Nonetheless, Ireland got the win they needed to add to draws against higher-ranked Japan and Germany to assure them of a place in the top four of Pool A.
They now have three days' break before meeting England in their last group game on Sunday and then play a quarter-final next Tuesday which will have a World Cup berth on the line.
Ireland started brightly against a tight-knit defence and took the lead in the ninth minute when the experienced Chloe Watkins picked a great pass down the middle to Evans, which she took on the turn, weaving inside two defenders before cracking home a backhand shot for 1-0.
Katie Mullan went close to a second moments later, while a trio of penalty corners before the quarter-time break also went a-begging, with Lena Tice’s rebound the pick of the chances.
Poland showed more in attack in a scrappy second quarter, but Evans and Mullan started the second half in lively fashion when they robbed the last defender and the latter’s shot was kicked clear by Marta Kucharska.
The Poles did win a couple of penalty corners to create their best chances, one of which saw Ayeisha McFerran get down well to deny Marlena Rybacha.
But the tie was put to bed by Pinder with a brilliant strike from the top of the circle, angling her shot into the roof of the net after Mullan’s run and pass had squirted back out.
Tice had to do well to block Weronika Wessolowska’s corner shot but the remaining 20 minutes saw Poland launch only a tepid attempt to close the gap as Ireland controlled the ball.
Speaking afterwards, captain Mullan said: "Absolutely delighted. We came here with Poland as our target game for three points so job done.
"We wanted to play at the intensity we played the first two games at and I think we did that in patches; other patches not so much. Maybe we left a couple of goals out there today but hopefully we can pick them up later in the tournament."
Coach Shaw added: "It wasn’t the best performance but we will take it. There is a lot of pressure in these games and the most important thing is we got the win and secured the quarter-final place. We can rest now and look forward to playing England on Sunday."
Ireland’s men, meanwhile, will look to emulate the women’s performance on Thursday when they meet Egypt at 11am (Irish time), with a win securing a quarter-final spot.
