Women's hockey:After a nervous start, that saw them go a goal down on five minutes, Ireland recovered in Valencia yesterday to beat the Czech Republic 4-1 in their opening World League 2 game.
A defensive muddle allowed Monika Kostalova to score for the tournament’s lowest ranked team, but Ireland were 2-1 up by half-time, Lisa Jacob turning home a rebound from a penalty corner before Aine Connery gave them the lead with a neat finish.
Drag flick
The prolific Audrey O’Flynn extended the advantage from another corner two minutes after the break, Nicola Gray completing the scoring with a drag flick on 52 minutes.
Ireland and Spain are favourites to take the two qualifying spots for the next round of the World League, their hopes boosted yesterday when third seeds Italy needed a shoot-out to beat Belarus, meaning they picked up just two points instead of three.
And it is Belarus who Ireland play this morning – the match is scheduled for live streaming at fhcv.tv, 10am Irish time.
IRELAND: P Smithwick, A Speers (capt), L Jacob, A O'Flanagan, E Smyth, C Watkins, N Symmons, N Gray, N Atcheler, A O'Flynn, C Sargent. Subs: M Harvey, N Evans, S McCarthy, A Connery, N Daly.
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