Ireland 2 Great Britain 1
Roisin Upton's late penalty helped Ireland to beat Olympic champions Great Britain in Belfast and set up a series decider on Tuesday afternoon.
There were no tournament points on the line, there were no fans present and there weren't even caps awarded but Ireland were still able to take plenty of satisfaction from a first-ever win over their neighbours, who they will share a pool with in Tokyo later in the year, as well as being potential opponents at the European Championships in June.
Irish head coach Sean Dancer brought in some of his proven big performers following Saturday's 2-1 defeat to the same opposition including goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran as well as Lena Tice and Chloe Watkins, and all played important roles.
FT Ireland 2-1 GB - Roisin Upton keeps her cool and Ireland have beaten the Olympic champions! #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/Pioto7nbAu
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 14, 2021
Britain opened very strongly and had three opportunities in the first six minutes with McFerran quick off her line to save from Shona McCallin and making a diving save following a penalty corner. Between those two moments, Tice kept the Irish goal intact by spectacularly deflecting a high shot away from the goal with McFerran beaten.
It all looked a bit ominous from the home point of view but slowly Ireland began to get to grips with the game and had their first good opportunity after 23 minutes. Deirdre Duke pulled a cross back from the end line and from a couple of metres out Lizzie Colvin was on target but too close to Maddie Hinch who scrambled to save.
Still, when Britain scored five minutes before half time, it was a reasonable reflection of their first-half superiority. A brilliant feint by Shona McCallin saw her go past Irish skipper Katie Mullan, she passed to Sarah Evans who fired it across the circle for Laura Unsworth to deftly turn it in at the far post.
Ireland 1-1 GB - Chloe Watkins levels it up with a terrific goal #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/4eQoOiM16M
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 14, 2021
One of Dancer's big messages to the Irish squad has been to back themselves when there is a sniff of an opportunity and thee minutes into the third quarter, Chloe Watkins did just that. The GB defence was slightly hesitant as Watkins advanced to the circle, went by one defender and then hit a fine reverse stick shot to beat Hinch and level the game.
Early in the fourth quarter, Ireland were briefly down to nine players with Michelle Carey green carded and Shirley McCay getting yellow. Ireland then earned their only penalty corner of the match which came to nothing but with six minutes to go Anna O'Flanagan earned her team a penalty stroke as she dribbled towards goal and Lizzie Neal's tackle was judged to have prevented a scoring opportunity.
Who better to step up than Róisín Upton who beat Hinch with a knee-high shot to the keeper's right. It completed a great comeback for Ireland after a difficult start and teed up Tuesday's third match (3pm, Queen's University) as a series decider.
Ireland: A McFerran, N Evans, K Mullan, S McCay, L Tice, B Barr, C Watkins, L Colvin, H Matthews, S Torrans, A O'Flanagan; L Murphy, M Carey, R Upton, H McLoughlin, S Hawkshaw, N Carey, D Duke.
Great Britain: M Hinch, S Jones, S Evans, E Rayer, S Townsend, S McCallin, L Unsworth, L Wilkinson, L Neal, H Pearne-Webb, A Toman; S Robertson, I Petter, L Owsley, F Crackles, G Ansley.
