Kelleher keeps Irish in hunt

"Terry! Did Sarah Kelleher get the winner," coach Terry Gregg was asked at full-time yesterday after Ireland's extraordinary 3-2 victory over Japan at the Magamba Stadium. "Sarah or God," he shouted back. Sarah OR God? The Cork woman WAS God after she divinely intervened, with seven minutes to spare, to complete her team's Lazarus-like comeback from a two-goal deficit.

The victory now moves Ireland into the 5th-8th place play-offs where, if they win their first match against China tomorrow, they will qualify for next year's World Cup finals in Holland.

Defeat would end that dream but, depending on permutations involving England and Scotland's results here, they could still win a place in the next Olympic qualifying tournament.

A berth in the top eight seemed a remote possibility after just four minutes of yesterday's final Pool A match when Akemi Kato connected with a cross from the right to put the Japanese one up. Eleven minutes later there was further catastrophe when Toshie Tsukui turned a hopeful shot from outside the circle past Alison Vance.

It wasn't until eight minutes after the break that Ireland got back in to the game when Lynsey McVicker converted Jeanette Turner's free from the right. From that moment on they took control, pinning the tiring Japanese into their own half.

The equaliser came in the 48th minute when Arlene Thompson's perfectly struck short corner flew past Nami Miyazaki in the Japanese goal. The Pegasus sweeper turned towards the bench and gave a clenched fist salute, interpreted as a reminder to Gregg that his players can, after all, convert short corners.

The siege began. All Japan needed was a point to go through to the crucial stage of the play-offs but a defeat would leave them tied on four points with the Irish - as both teams would then have won one game each, the result between the teams would determine who finished fourth in the pool.

It was Mary Logue, having her best match of the tournament, who won Ireland's eighth short corner in the 63rd minute. Carol Devine pushed out, Logue stopped cleanly and Kelleher's shot found the target through a crowd of players.

There followed what Gregg later described as "the most professional play an Irish team is ever likely to produce" when Kelleher and Logue kept possession in the top corners of the field, almost to the final whistle, denying the Japanese the chance to attack.

Ireland: A Vance, K Humphreys, A Thompson, J Stewart, C Craig, R Kohler, J Turner (capt), S Kelleher, C Devine, M Logue, J Burke. Subs: L McVicker, C McMahon, C O'Kelly, M O'Sullivan.

Japan: N Miyazaki, K Miura, M Sawaya, T Sasaki, S Iwao, H Takahashi, S Miyazaki, A Kato, T Tsukui, T Tanimura, S Morimoto. Subs: S Nakamura, K Kanno, K Minbuta.