In the first game of day one of the INSEP Hockey Challenge in Paris, Ireland were shock 5 – 1 winners over South Korea.
Hot on the heels of their victory at the recent Champions Challenge 2 in Lille earlier this month, Ireland carried that good form into their first game of the INSEP Hockey Challenge, with two early field goals in two minutes to a rampant William McCabe against a stunned South Korea.
The game settled briefly, and South Korea created a number of opportunities to get onto the scoreboard. However, the Irish capiltalised on some uncharacteristic skill errors from the South Koreans and finished the last six minutes of the half as they had the first, with two more field goals. Michael Watt made no mistake when presented with an opportunity to score in the 29th minute, and Andrew McConnell shot truly just before the break to put Ireland 4-0 up.
The South Koreans tried hard to get back into the game in the second period, and pegged a goal back from a well executed penalty corner 10 minutes into the half.
However, any glimmer of hope was snuffed out by the ruthless scoring efficiency of the Irish, when Watt knocked in his second field goal of the game to seal the match, and an impressive 5-1 victory to Ireland, in the 58th minute.
Ireland coach Paul Revington said after the match, “The score did not reflect how tough the match was - we had a lot to do on the pitch for 70 minutes. Everybody worked hard during the match, but there are still things we need to improve on before the next game.”
When asked about his expectations for the tournament, Revington said, “This is our last tournament before the European Cup, and so it is an opportunity for us to see more players on the pitch, to finalise our selections.”
Revington commented favourably on tournament location, “The facilities at INSEP are great. Everything we need is right here, and the pitch is one of the best in Europe.”
Korean coach Moon Ki Too said after the match “We didn’t expect to concede so many goals so early in the game. We made a lot of errors and executed our skills poorly. After three weeks in Europe, the players are a little tired, but we will try to be better and better, and win all of our other games,” he said.
In their next matches, Ireland face World Champions Australia, who play their opening game at 16h00 on Tuesday, and Korea will play France at 18h00 on Wednesday.
Fédération Française de Hockey media release
