Spain end Ireland’s hopes of FIH Pro League qualification

Spain 2 Ireland 0

Six days after Spain beat them 5-1 in their opening pool game of the Nations Cup in Terrassa, the hosts got the better of Ireland again in the final of the tournament on Sunday evening, their 2-0 victory ending Irish hopes of qualifying for next year’s FIH Pro League.

Two goals in the space of five first-half minutes decided the game, the first a reverse strike by Patricia Alvarez that found its way through goalkeeper Liz Murphy’s pads, the second a penalty corner drag flick from Lola Riera. That left Ireland with a mountain to climb in the second half, one they could find no way of scaling.

They were on the back foot for the bulk of the game, posing little threat to their opponents, and before the opening goal they were indebted to Murphy for two fine saves, the first from a penalty corner before she was sharp off her line to deny Marta Segu.

Since their penalty shoot-out win over the Spanish in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, the side have met eight times – Spain won four and drew four. Other than a Niamh Carey effort and a Róisín Upton strike from a penalty corner, both saved by Clara Perez, Ireland could find no way of adding a win to that streak against the world’s seventh-ranked nation.

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IRELAND: L Murphy, S McAuley, M Carey, R Upton, N Carey, K Mullan (capt), S Torrans, L Neill, E Curran, C Beggs, K McKee. Subs: H Micklem, S Hawkshaw, H McLoughlin, N Carroll, C Perdue, C Hamill, S O’Brien.