Ireland 2-4 Belgium
Ireland must avoid defeat to Japan in their final pool match in Valencia after falling to a 4-2 defeat to fancied Belgium in their second game of the men's Olympic hockey qualifiers.
Coming off the back of Sunday's 5-1 victory over Ukraine in the eastern Spanish city, Mark Tumilty's Irish team knew they would face their toughest task in the four-team pool on Monday night and so it proved.
Belgium were 2-0 to the good by the 25th minute thanks to goals from Felix Denayer and Alexander Hendrickx, the latter from a penalty corner.
Ireland hit back following the concession of the second, with a Ben Johnson goal in the 26th minute.
However, that revival was shortlived as William Ghislain and Thibeau Stockbroekx scored quickfire goals either side of the half-time whistle, before a 53rd-minute consolation from Matthew Nelson for Ireland.
The defeat leaves Ireland second in Pool A above third-placed Japan on goal difference. A draw in their head-to-head on Wednesday would be enough to book a place in the semi-finals.
The top two in each pool will advance to the last four, with the eventual finalists and third-place finisher in the mini-tournament set to qualify for this summer's Olympics in Paris.
Speaking after the match, head coach Tumilty felt Ireland could have levelled the match before the Belgians regained control of proceedings.
"We probably weathered a storm in the first quarter and then shipped two good goals. We got a goal back and had a chance to make it 2-2 but it was the sort of chance we normally take but didn't on this occasion," he said.
"They got two quick goals either side of half time and we were chasing the game for the remainder of it. It was pleasing we scored an excellent team goal late on.
"We have a final pool game with Japan and there's no point in sitting back and getting a draw. We need to be proactive and play attacking hockey, looking for the win we need to secure that semi-final spot. Ukraine showed earlier on by attacking Japan from the start and went into a 2-0 lead against them so they can be vulnerable early on which gives us a good opportunity".
Ireland: David Harte, Kyle Marshall ,Lee Cole, Shane O'Donoghue, Tim Cross, Nicholas Page, John Mc Kee, Sean Murray, Michael Robson, Jeremy Duncan, Darragh Walsh
Subs used: Peter McKibbin; Sam Hyland, Ben Johnson, Jonathan Lynch, Luke Madeley.
Belgium: Vincent Vanache, Thibeaux Stockbroekx, Arthur van Doren, Florent van Aubel, Gauthier Boccard, Alexander Hendrickx, Felix De Nayer, Arthur De Sloover, Victor Wegnez, Arno Van Dessel, TomBoom
Subs used: Nelson Onana,Tanguy Cosyns, Loick Luypaert, Maxime Van Oost, William Ghislain, John John Dohmen.
