WOMEN'S HOCKEY OLYMPIC QUALIFIER:IRELAND'S PENALTY corner routine came good in Vancouver as Cathy McKean and Claire Parkhill scored cracking goals to defeat hosts Canada 2-0 at the Olympic hockey qualifier.
The home team were seeking to repair the damage done by their weekend loss to Italy but were beaten by an Irish side which showed the greater composure, despite being on the back foot for practically all of the second half.
Jenny McDonagh seemed to pop up just about everywhere in the first half - snuffing out Canada's early penalty corner one minute and raiding up the right wing the next.
Nikki Symmons won Ireland's first corner and it was the same player's shot at the set-piece that McKean turned high into the net on 10 minutes to celebrate her 100th cap in style.
And the insurance strike also came from a corner, goalkeeper Sarah Forbes was unable to deal with the power of Claire Parkhill's strike.
Ireland did a great job up to the break of muting the bullish home support, though Tiffany Michaluk raised a cheer every time she took off on one of her solo surges.
The decibel level rose too when Katie Rushton was set free to run at Mary Goode but the Irish goalkeeper was quick off her line to make a slick sliding interception feet first.
Goode was seldom far from the action throughout the second half though the Canadians failed to find any accuracy to match their enthusiasm.
Four of their seven corners were sent wide of the mark, while two more were smothered by the Irish runners. In amongst all the action around their own goal, Ireland might have snatched a third they scarcely deserved on the break, only Julia O'Halloran came off second best in her tangle with Forbes while Nikki Symmons and Emma Stewart posted wides.
Irish captain Eimear Cregan was delighted with the result, which gives her team full points from two matches.
She was particularly grateful to Loreto's McKean for her scoring contribution.
"To be so clinical with the first goal, it really settled us. We have experienced pressure situations and we knew how to control the tempo."
Ireland play bottom-of-the-table Uruguay today before meeting tournament favourites Korea on Thursday. The Asians, twice Olympic silver medallists in the past, saw off Malaysia 5-0.
OLYMPIC QUALIFIER (Vancouver):Day Two: Italy 4 Uruguay 0; Ireland 2 (C McKean, C Parkhill) Canada 0; Korea 5 Malaysia 0. 1, Korea 6pts; 2, Ireland 6pts; 3, Italy 6pts; 4, Canada 0 pts; 5, Malaysia 0 pts; 6, Uruguay 0 pts.
IRELAND:M Goode, E Cregan, E Clarke, B McKeever, S McCay, J McDonagh, C McKean, C O'Brien, L Moore, N Symmons, C Parkhill. Subs: E Stewart, A Speers, J O'Halloran, L Jacob, C Sargent.
CANADA:S Forbes, C O'Hara, S Jameson, K Rushton, C DePape, S Hume, K Baker, K Buker, A Rushton, T Michaluk, C Linton. Subs: M Anderson, P Kedgley, H Linton, K Gillis, A Liu.
Umpires:S Garnett ( New Zealand ), K Yasueda ( Japan ).
