Ireland 0-3 South Africa
Hosts South Africa inflicted a 3-0 defeat on Ireland in their fifth to eight place play-off in the World League in Johannesburg today.
The Green Army now move into the seventh and eighth place play-off against India on Saturday. Victory in that game could secure Ireland a World Cup spot, but they will have to wait until the Continental Championships are complete later in the year to see if a place opens up.
Ireland struggled to settle in to the game early on and South Africa won three penalty corners, the third of which Lisa-Marie Deetlefs fired into the net late in the first half.
Roisin Upton then clattered the post from a penalty stroke just before half-time.
Anna O’Flanagan drew a superb reaction save from Phumelela Mbande in a third quarter which Ireland dominated.
However, South Africa snatched their second goal against the run of play from a defensive error as Bernadette Coston drilled the ball into the corner of the goal in the final quarter.
With nine minutes left, Ireland sacrificed keeper Ayeisha McFerran and introduced Shirley McKay as a kicking back, but that backfired when Lilian du Plessis broke into the circle and scored into the open goal.
Ireland: K Mullan (Captain), S McCay, E Tice, G Pinder, A McFerran, C Watkins, N Daly, H Matthews, A O’Flanagan, Z Wilson, D Duke
Subs: G O’Flanagan, Y O’Byrne, N Evans, E Beatty, S Loughran, R Upton, L Colvin
South Africa: C Evans, N Walraven, I Davids, S Jones, LM Deetlefs, N Terblanche, B Coston, P Mbande, J Mayne, Q Bobbs, S Damons (Captain)
Subs: K Stella, C Manuel, L du Plessis, J O’Connor, S Baxter, N La Fleur, T Glasby
