HOCKEY Irish men defeat Chile in Four Nations Tournament
Samsung Four Nations.
Santiago, Chile
Match 2
Ireland 6 (M. Gleghorne 4, D. Hobbs, M. Watt) - Chile 0
Ireland took on the host nation Chile in a four nations earlier this evening after drawing with world number 13’s South Africa yesterday evening one all. The Irish men played the game in front of a vocal home crowd and Chile immediately applied pressure on Ireland causing several turnovers which earned them two penalty corners in the opening ten minutes which keeper Mark Ruddle dealt with to keep a clean net.
In the first half Ireland’s chances were limit to a good counter attack run from David Hobbs but his circle cross was just out of reach for Mark Gleghorne for the conversion. Without much possession Ireland had to work hard defensively and on 15 minutes the Chileans should have taken the lead but they blasted over Ruddle’s cross bar to remain without a score.
On the twenty ninth minute; against the run of play a speculative Paddy Brown punt was mis-trapped in the Chilean circle and the resulting penalty corner saw Gleghorne fire high into the net to open Ireland’s account for a one nil lead. The pressure mounted and Chile were unable to clear their own lines on 33 minutes and from the third Irish penalty corner Gleghorne repeated the same corner to double the lead to two nil. The shell shocked South Americans were dealt a further blow as Tim Cockram made the most of the limited possession to win another corner which allowed Gleghorne to complete his hat trick in the space of six minutes just before half time. The set piece performance from Gleghorne saved Ireland and gave them a three nil lead at half time to build on for the final 35.
Half Time 3-0
After acknowledging a poor first half Ireland lifted their game and started to play with the fluency expected of this side and it was not long before man of the match Gleghorne benefited from good work from Hobbs and McCabe to set him up for his fourth goal on 38 minutes.
At this stage Chile were facing an Irish side playing with confidence and creating more chances which were in short supply in the first half. David Hobbs with his tireless work rate was rewarded with a half chance at the edge of the circle and the Cork man made no mistake as he crashed the ball home for a fine international goal and Ireland’s fifth of the evening. But the best was yet to come when in the fifty fourth minute Tim Cockram’s corner was saved and Mike Watt converted the rebound from an acute angle and the Irish were six up.
With the result beyond doubt Ireland lost some concentration and Chile came more into the game winning several corners towards the end and they created some good chances but good goal keeping from Mark Ruddle kept a clean sheet for the Irish boys.
Ireland Coach Dave Passmore commented “This was a poor first half performance but the mental resolve to come back and produce a fine second half is encouraging. It was an excellent display of set piece conversion from Mark Gleghorne which is just reward for all his countless hours on the training pitch.”
Full Time Ireland 6, Chile 0
Earlier result South Africa 0, Argentina 1
Ireland Team Ruddle, Brown, Lewers , Gormley, McCabe ,Hobbs, Jermyn, Gleghorne, Magee, Maguire Burns, Lewis, Cockram, Watt, M. Black, Irwin
Not Used A. McConnell, D. Harte
Next Match
Thursday 20th December
20.00 Ireland –v- Argentina