Ireland 1-2 Great Britain
In the 497 days since Róisín Upton scored the penalty shuttle that put Ireland into the Tokyo Olympics at the expense of Canada, the Ireland team hadn't played a single international on home soil.
Sean Dancer's squad must have been chomping at the bit to take on reigning Olympic champions Great Britain in the first of three uncapped internationals in four days at Queens University and when Ireland were awarded a penalty stroke midway through the first quarter, it was Upton who came forward and flicked the ball to the top left corner to beat England keeper Maddie Hinch.
HT Ireland 1-0 GB - Roisin Upton's excellent penalty is the difference in Belfast @IreWomenHockey #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/IUe0dJouX6
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 13, 2021
Ireland were playing at a good tempo, while there were important interventions at the back from goalkeeper Grace O'Flanagan and defender Sarah McAuley. Despite a couple of scares, they held on to that 1-0 lead until half-time.
Part of the exercise for Dancer is to narrow down his options ahead of Tokyo when only 16 can be named in the squad, along with two reserves in case of tournament-ending injury.
Hockey always has rolling substitutions, but while Ayeisha McFerran is Ireland's top keeper, it was O'Flanagan and then Liz Murphy for the second half who who were employed, with 18 players on the matchday panel and seven more who will see game time on Sunday or Tuesday.
Britain threatened right at the start of the third quarter. Murphy was adjudged to have committed a foul but Giselle Ansley's resultant penalty came off the post.
It was a sign of things to come as Britain got well on top and Irish attacks became few and far between.
Five minutes into the quarter, Lily Owsley, a Rio 2016 gold medallist, levelled it after the Ireland defence was cut open and right at the start of the final quarter Sarah Robertson scored what proved to be the winner, again from open play.
GB lead Ireland 2-1 thanks to this effort from Sarah Robertson #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/uT4ZbvlT0Q
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 13, 2021
The second match of the series at 5pm on Sunday will be broadcast live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, with 16 players on each panel.
There will be an 8x8 challenge for other squad members earlier in the afternoon and plenty for the respective head coaches to mull over.
The Green Army are back: @IreWomenHockey v @GBHockey (5pm, Sunday). @EvanneNiC is joined by @sargentcli and @GillianPinder1 for live coverage from Queen's University, Belfast @RTE2 @RTEplayer #RTESport pic.twitter.com/Ixn0pd9vGn
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 13, 2021
