Ireland 4- 7 Netherlands - EuroHockey Nations Championship (men)

Ireland lose out to Netherlands in incredible 11 goal thriller in a game Ireland had to win by a 5 goal margin to keep their Olympic dream alive. The Dutch got off to a fast start scoring in the 7th minute from open play through Bob de Voogd but Ireland responded with a glorious strike from Eugene Magee to bring the teams level in the 14th minute. Ireland took the lead in the 22nd minute when McCabe was on hand to roof a rebound and put Ireland 2-1 up. In the space of 3 minutes the powerful Taeke Taekema struck twice from penalty corners to give Holland a 3-2 half time lead.

Taekema was again the danger and scored a further two penalty corners in the 46th and 51st minute to bring is own personal tally for the game to four and give the Dutch a 5-2 lead. The goal of the game came in the 60th minute when on the counter Teun de Nooijer lifted over Harte to send the Dutch side 4 clear. Ireland hit back two minutes later with a super strike from Michael Watt. De Voogd took his personal tally to 2 in the 68th minute but Ireland were to finish with a goal of their own when a Magee shot was saved but Cockram was on hand to tap home.

After the game Irish Coach Paul Revington said "He was reasonably happy with the with the way the 1st half finished and to score 4 goals was a positive but it was a little frustrating to concede 7" He went on to say that playing teams like Holland could only improve our standard but the priority now was to remain the division. Dutch Coach Paul Van Ass complimented the Irish on being a fast improving side and Eugene Magee and John Jermyn have two world class players.

Ireland now go into Pool C with Russia, France and either Spain or Belgium (currently game on and Spain lead 2-0 at Half Time)

Their next game will be against Russia at 2pm on Friday (1pm Irish Time) and on Sunday will play either Spain or Belgium at 11am (10 Irish Time)

• Ireland Starting XI: David Harte (GK); John Jackson; Geoff McCabe; Ronan Gormley;Michael Watt; Eugene Magee; Mitch Darling; Tim Cockram; David Ames; Paul Gleghorne; Conor Harte
  Reserves: Chris Cargo; Ian Sloan: Andy McConnell; Joe Brennan; John Jermyn

• Netherlands Starting XI; Jaap Stockmann; Wouter Jolie; Taeke Takema; Robbert Kemperman, Teun De Nooijer; Bob de Voogd; Rogier Hofman; Robert Van der Horst; Valentin Verga; Billy Bakker; Tim Jenniskens
  Reserves: Klass Vermeulen; Roderick Weusthof; Heroen Hertzberger; Floris Evers; Sander De Wijn