Ireland showed their quality in front of goal to get their third win from three in the pool stages of the EuroHockey Championship II, thrashing hosts Portugal 9-0 in Lousada.
Mark McNellis and Fergus Gibson both got on the scoresheets to open their senior international accounts, with Louis Rowe bagging a brace. Ben Nelson, Jonny Lynch, Lee Cole, Sean Murray, and Jeremy Duncan also found the net in Ireland's 9-0 victory.
The win secures top spot in Pool A, setting up a semi-final against Scotland on Friday at 5pm.
Ireland began the game brightly, continuing their domination of possession from previous games, and two great chances fell for Duncan early on, with Portuguese goalkeeper alive to both to keep the game scoreless.
Ireland broke the deadlock in the tenth minute from a penalty corner with Rowe’s initial effort saved, but McNellis met the rebound to fire into the net.
Ben Nelson almost added a second as he tried to deflect the ball under Carlos Pedro after an excellent counter-attack, but the keeper was again alive to the effort to clear.
Ireland almost made the perfect start to the second quarter when Cole won the ball on the left flank and threw an aerial to Matthew Nelson who was free in the circle, but the Lisnagarvey forward’s shot was just wide of the post.
Gibson added Ireland’s second with six minutes left in the first half, getting on the end of an excellent delivery from Ben Nelson to extend the lead.
Ireland added two more goals in the minutes that followed, Ben Nelson firing in on his reverse, followed by a tidy Rowe finish to make it four going into the break.
Ireland picked up from where they left off with Lynch weaving his way along the baseline and finding the net from a tight angle for the fifth, while Rowe got his second of the gamenot long after when he was found in acres of space on the penalty spot, giving him the time to calmly flick into the net.
Cole added a seventh from a penalty corner before the end of the third quarter, scoring his third of the competition, and Ireland closed out the game with two more goals. Murray grabbed number eight from a penalty corner, before Duncan added the ninth, finishing off a great attacking move down the right-hand side.
"We set the team the task of improving the standard of play with the ball. They got off to an early start with a goal. It was great to see some good team goals being scored," said Ireland head coach Mark Tumilty.
"It’s going to be tough," added Tumilty, when asked about the semi-final. "And there is still lots to come in order for us to achieve our goals of reaching the final of this tournament and making the 2027 EuroHockey Championships, and getting a place in the FIH World Cup Qualifiers. We’ll pay Scotland the utmost respect."
