The Irish men’s and women’s hockey teams are experiencing contrasting fortunes in their respective competitions at the moment, the men suffering an 8-2 hammering by world champions Germany at the FIH Pro League in India, while the women got their Nations Cup campaign in Chile off to a winning start against Scotland.
It’s been tough going for the men in their second Pro League season, taking just one point from their six games against hockey’s elite so far, leaving them bottom of the table and bound for a drop down to next season’s Nations League.
“Collectively and individually we did not play to the standards required at this level,” said coach Mark Tumilty after the game, the Germans their opponents again in their final match of the campaign on Tuesday.
Ireland trailed 2-4 at the break, Matthew Nelson and Peter McKibbin’s penalty stroke keeping them in the game, but Germany scored four more without reply in the second half to comfortably wrap up the points.
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Over in Santiago, where the Irish women are attempting to win promotion to the Pro League, Mikayla Power marked her debut by giving them a first-quarter lead, further scores from Niamh Carey and Katie Mullan, the latter in the last minute, sealing the win.
New Zealand, who beat South Korea 5-4 in their opening game, are next up on Tuesday evening, before Ireland complete their pool campaign against the Koreans.
The top two in each pool go through to the semi-finals, the winners of the tournament sealing Pro League promotion.
