FIH Pro League debut defeat for Ireland as Lee Cole scores landmark goal against world's top side
Ireland’s debut appearance in the FIH Pro League featured a 5-1 reverse to the world’s number one side, the Netherlands.
The fixture in India’s Bhubaneswar featured Lee Cole’s penalty corner proving a landmark moment for the Ireland squad as a first-ever FIH Pro League goal, with the Netherlands up by 3-0.
Additional goals from the Netherlands confirmed the outcome by 5-1 overall.
"I didn't think it was a 5-1 game,” said Ireland head coach Mark Tumilty. “If we could have gotten a second goal in the third quarter, it would have been a different result.
"Pleased with our first-half showing. We produced some very good hockey at times. Going forward at times too.
"Probably just a few individual errors cost us goals. Teams at this level punish errors ruthlessly.
"Our deep defence was good at times as it had been in Valencia recently. I thought Sean Murray was outstanding in the game today.
"On Tuesday we will face Australia, and this will be another challenge for us. We will need to fix a few things from today that we could do a bit better on."
IRELAND: Jamie Carr, Luke Madeley, Tim Cross, John McKee, Daragh Walsh, Kevin O'Dea, Shane O'Donoghue, Sean Murray (captain), Michael Robson, Lee Cole, Conor Empey.
Subs used: Ben Johnson (4 mins), Luke Witherow (5 mins) Jeremy Duncan (5 mins), Nicholas Page (5 mins), Peter McKibbin (7 mins), Peter Brown (7 mins).
NETHERLANDS: Pirmin Blaak , Jip Janssen, Lars Balk, Thierry Brinkman, Seve Van Ass, JorritCroon, Floris Wortelboer, Tjep Hoedemakers, Koen Bijen, Joep DeMol, Steijn Van Heijningen.
Subs used: Duco Telgenkamp (4 mins), Max DeBie (4 mins) Terrance Pieters (4 mins), Derck De Vilder (5 mins), Teun Beins (5 mins]), Jesper Brinkman (5 mins).