Katie Mullan says Ireland "know the rollercoaster of tournament hockey" and take a lot from their opening women's EuroHockey Championship tie, falling 4-0 to an imperious Dutch side.
A double from Laurien Leurink along with goals from Caia van Maasakker and Frédérique Matla did the damage for the world number ones – who have lost just once in their last 100 fixtures and are reigning World, Euro and Pro League champions – who showed their class in spades.
Nonetheless, captain Mullan said it was a far cry from the 6-0 meeting when Ireland last met the Dutch in 2018’s World Cup final.
"I think anyone who watched both those games will see the improvement in us," the Green Army captain said of the performance. "There’s a few little things defensively where we get caught as a full team; those are the moments where they dominate and score and that’s where the Dutch are so clinical.
"But there were times we really did have control, held the ball well and were able to accumulate passes. We’re in a good place going into the Scottish game."
It was Ireland’s first competitive fixture since the 2019 Olympic qualifiers, enough time for Amsterdam restrictions to be lifted enough to allow over 3,000 fans to attend. With the atmosphere of the Wagener Stadium, Mullan added it was a great way to get back into action.
"That was an incredible atmosphere; when you have had two years out of international hockey, what a way to come back to tournament hockey, playing the Dutch in Amsterdam in a packed stadium. It was all orange and we really enjoyed it.
"How do you prepare a youngster for that?" she added, referencing the tournament debuts for UCD pair Hannah McLoughlin and Michelle Carey.
"We tried to build them up for it all week and I’m very proud of them; they did incredibly well and enjoyed it too. That’s the most important thing for them too; for your first 10 caps you have free reign. You just go out and enjoy it, getting up to that pace. I’m almost jealous they got to do it against the Dutch in that atmosphere."
Ireland coach Sean Dancer admitted that the game got away from his side in the first 15 minutes but he was pleased with some aspects of their game, not least how they finished the game.
All eyes are now on Monday's game with Scotland and Dancer believes that it's a must-win game.
"It's always a tough game," he said. "Holland are the world number one for a reason so we were under no illusion how tough it would be. In the first quarter the two goals put us on the back foot and made it too hard for us.
"There has been a bit of talk on whether it's better to play Holland in the first game but it's tournament mode now and we always knew we'd have to beat Spain and Scotland to go through to the semi-finals.
"We're happy with some of the stuff we did today and certainly it's a benchmark for where we need to be.
"Obviously Scotland's a game we need to do well in and we need a result to keep progressing in the tournament."
