Ireland head coach Mark Tumilty calls for side to be 'more clinical' in order to book spot at Olympic Games

Tumilty’s side had finished second behind Belgium in their group after beating Ukraine and Japan, setting up a play-off fixture with the Spaniards, who are ranked four places higher than Ireland in the world standings.

Knowing that victory would secure their place at the summer tournament in Paris, the first quarter was tightly-contested with Ireland showing solid defence to stop their opponents swift counter-attacks.

Ireland’s best chance of the second-quarter came via a penalty corner which Spanish goalkeeper Luis Calzado was able to comfortably fend off to ensure the scores were level at half-time.

The hosts took a 35th minute lead as Rafael Vilallonga reacted fastest to a blocked penalty corner and shortly after Spain were two ahead through Marc Miralles.

While Spain have booked their spot in Paris, Ireland will now go into a third-placed match against either Belgium or South Korea on Sunday afternoon – a scenario which Tumilty had prepared for prior to the tournament.

"We came in at half-time level which was where we had wanted to be,” he said. “But Spain came at us strongly in quarter three and took their two goals from penalty corners and got the better of us. They tend to do well in quarter three in matches.

"Spain deserved their win, even though we had a few chances to score in the final quarter. Going into this tournament based on World rankings we thought we might have to go to the bronze medal match, and we are where we expected to be and have prepared for that.

"Whoever we end up against be it Belgium or Korea, they will offer a different challenge. We need to be more clinical at taking our opportunities in front of goal if we are going to achieve our target”.

IRELAND: David Harte, Luke Madeley, Shane O'Donoghue, Tim Cross, Lee Cole, Daragh Walsh, Nicholas Page, Sean Murray (C), John McKee, Jeremy Duncan, Michael Robson.

SUBS USED: Matthew Nelson, Kyle Marshall, Peter Mckibbin, Jonathan Lynch, Sam Hyland, Ben Johnson.

SPAIN: Luiz Calzano (GK), Alejandro Alonso, Xavier Gispert, Alvaro Iglesias, José Basterra, Marc Miralles (C), Jordi Bonastre, Pepe Cunill, Joaquin Menini, Borja Lacallé, Alvaro Portugal.

SUBS USED: Enrique Gonzalez, Marc Recasens, Marc Reyne, Ignacio Rodriguez, Gerard Clapes, Rafael Vilallonga.

Ireland’s women will be in action on Saturday when they face Great Britain after losing out on penalties to Spain in Thursday’s semi-final.