Belgium 2-0 Ireland
Ireland faced an uphill battle against Olympic champions Belgium in their opening Pool B clash in the men's hockey at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium and so it proved.
The margin could have been greater if not for a stellar performance from veteran goalkeeper David Harte, who pulled off a string of saves to deny the dominant Belgians.
Tom Boon eventually gave Belgium the lead in the second quarter, before a decent period for Ireland, with Jeremy Duncan and Daragh Walsh both forcing saves from Belgium's goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch.
Ireland held out and frustrated the Belgians, raising hopes of a smash and grab, until the final quarter when Alexander Hendrickx swept home the second with 12 minutes to go from a penalty corner.
Ireland had a penalty corner late on but couldn't break down the Belgian defence.
Ireland head coach Mark Tumilty said the champions were not the same side they beat twice in the FIH Pro League earlier in May.
"It was a different Belgium side to the one we faced in Antwerp," he told RTÉ Sport. "The second goal from the corner was a bit of a killer. Belgium were very well set up today."
Ireland have been drawn in a very difficult pool, with the three medallists from Tokyo and all five teams ranked higher than the Green Machine. The next face Australia at 9am on Monday.
"Australia will be another challenge in the next few days. We need to be a bit braver with the ball to create chances against these teams."
Goalkeeper Harte, who kept the score down for Ireland told RTÉ Sport: "Incredibly proud of the performance we managed to put out there.
"They're the world number three side for a reason and we knew coming into this game - despite having two good results in the summer - that this would be a very different task with a complete side.
"How we held ourselves in for the 60 minutes, just incredibly proud of the effort that we put in.
"We got a few corners but realistically we were living off scraps."
Belgium: Vincent Vanasch; Arthur Van Doren, Gauthier Boccard, Nicholas de Kerper, Alexander Hendrickx, Arthur de Sloover, Loick Luypaert, John-John Dohmen, Felix De Nayer (capt), Antoine Kina, Victor Wagenez, Arno Van Dassel, Thibeau Stockbroekx, Florent Van Aubel, Tom Boon, Nelson Onana
Ireland: David Harte; Tim Cross, Kyle Marshall, Shane O'Dononghue, Peter McKibbin, Lee Cole, Nicholas Page, Daragh Walsh, Sean Murray (capt), Michael Robson, Peter Brown, John McKee, Matthew Nelson, Jeremy Duncan, Ben Johnson
