Ireland 2 England 3

Ireland played England in the first of two matches taking place this weekend in the National Hockey Stadium. In an exhilarating fast paced match England just nudged Ireland for a 3-2 win.
England opened the match with pace, Ireland taking ten minutes to settle down by which time they had conceded two goals, the first from Simon Mantell who picked up from an Ashley Jackson pass to roof it home. Just three minutes later Ashley Jackson was on hand to convert off the set piece close to post.

Ireland stepped up their game finding their rhythm and set up a number of chances including a big chance in the 20th minute thanks to Ronan Gormley but Simon Mantell was on hand to clear the threat and half time closed with Ireland trailing two goals to nil.

Ireland opened the second half with goal scoring intentions showing early, Gormley with a goal which was ruled out only for England to score the next goal in the 42nd minute with Barry Middleton diving on a pass across the goal mouth making it 3-0.

Ireland finally converted on their chances in the 53rd minute thanks to a powerful Shane O'Donoghue drag flick to take it to 3-1. Ireland upped the tempo enjoying dominating the attack and their efforts paid dividends in the 60th minute when Conor Harte battled his way through to set up Michael Watt to tap in the reverse and bring Ireland within a goal to 3-2.

Ireland dominated the final ten finishing strong but the equalising goal didn't come, the Green Machine won't have long to wait to level the score when they take on England again tomorrow at 2pm.

Commenting after the match Coach Ned Fulton said "This was a game of two halves, we finished nice and strong, taking our chances in the second half but we were punished in the first half for a slow start. It was an enjoyable game and we are looking forward to tomorrow's test."
Ireland Starting XI: John Jackson; Michael Watt; Bruce McCandless; Mitch Darling; Timmy Cockram; Michael Robson; David Fitzgerald; Paul Gleghorne; Conor Harte; Stuart Loughrey; Shane O'Donoghue.

Reserves: Johnny Bell; Ronan Gormley; Alan Sothern; Eugene Magee; Kirk Shimmins; Kyle Good
England Starting XI: Andrew Bull; Henry Weir; Ashley Jackson; Simon Mantell; Harry Martin; Mark Gleghorne; Barry Middleton; Patrick Smith; Iain Lewers; Nick Catlin; Dan Fox
Reserves: Oliver Willars; Alastair Brogdon; Phil Roper; Adam Dixon; David Condon; Tom Carson;