What a tight arm wrestle between the Kookaburras and Ireland to start the weekday Olympics week in Field Hockey at Stade Yves Du Manoir Stadium. The Kookaburras won the first 15 mins off a penalty corner and so does Ireland during the 2nd 15th also from a winning penalty corner for some time before Kookaburras got one back via a penalty stroke right on half-time 2-1.
Despite some serious efforts from both teams during the 2nd half to try and settle the score for themselves, the score remained 2-1 where both teams walked away without a goal over the last 2 x 15 minute periods, with the Kookaburras taking home yet another win off the back of their good start v Argentina the other day (1-0) in their 2024 Olympics campaign.
Now the Kookaburras will take on Belgium next on Wednesday morning at 3.45 am AEST while Ireland will need their full support from their passionate supporters this time v India tomorrow night at 9.15pm AEST.
Yeah, it’s a tough pill to swallow from Ireland who were really impressive all along mainly in defense including another strong showing from the keeper David Harte while they had some attacking moments on the counter where Ireland got away with one good successful penalty corner goal conversion in the 2nd 15. But one thing that let Ireland down is their conversions with shots being overcooked as well as hit and misses for the most part that gave the Kookaburras the chance to try and extend their lead with more ball on the pitch. Although they’ve done one part right which is stopping the Kookaburras from scoring in open play as liked how Ireland unpacked their defensively trickery when going up against a dangerous Kookaburras attack, but what Ireland needs to do is cross more ball into the middle that will make their counter-attack look electrifying.
Food for fought there as Ireland will not give any team a free run with an excellent squad, coaching staff and its supporters.
Meanwhile, glad to see the Kookaburras escape Ireland’s really strong backline thanks to these winning penalties where two of their goals came from there – one was a penalty corner while another was a penalty stroke. For a start, they were really good in possession so they can catch Ireland off-guard and they did at times through the break to try and distract David Harte when it comes to these attempts towards goal. What they should’ve done is to make their attack bit more expansive in open play and that might have helped the Kookaburras a thing or two to steer clear past Ireland since their 2nd half play was scrappy where both teams walked away without a goal. But a win is a good win though since it was enough to close out Ireland towards the end there like it was against Argentina during the opening game two days ago and all the Kookaburras need to do now is not just always press with the ball in possession but also bring more in-circle time to score a few goals as well.
