Ireland lose Olympic qualifying semi-final against Spain but still have chance to clinch Paris spot on Saturday

Sean Dancer’s side will now face either Great Britain or Belgium on Sarturday in the third/fourth-place play-off with the chance of earning the final spot for the Olympics.

In a close game, Ireland dug in and caused problems for their rivals, who are ranked five places above them at No.8 in the world standings.

The Irish denied Spain a shot on goal or penalty corner throughout the 60 minutes, but they were comfortably dispatched in the shootout after failing to take their chances in regular time.

Sarah Hawkshaw, Roisin Upton and Hannah McLoughlin – who earned a landmark 50th cap in the game – all had their shots thwarted by Spanish goalkeeper Clara Perez.

Spain’s Lucia Jimenez and Julia Strappato beat Ayeisha McFerran with skipper Marcia Lopez stepping up to seal victory with a lobbed finish.

Head coach Dancer said he was “really happy” with the performance of the team as they wait to hear who they will face on Saturday.

"We are really happy with how we played today. When a game goes to a shootout, it’s always a difficult way to lose a game,” he said.

“Belgium have to take on Great Britain to decide who plays in the final and who we will play against on Saturday. We just need to focus on ourselves as we prepare for Saturday.

“We are proud of how we defended. But we also dominated possession today and in attack,” Dancer added. “We created a lot of chances today, we just need to start putting more of them away.”

Spain’s Patricia Alvarez mustered the first shot of the game, which was blocked by Hawkshaw.

Ireland went straight up the other end and won a long corner, which was typical of how the first quarter unfolded.

Spain started strongly in the second quarter when Blanca Perez had the first real chance following the restart, but her cross cum shot whizzed across the face of the goal, eluding everyone including her teammates.

Ireland went on to dominate the second quarter in possession, with Katie Mullan forcing keepe Clara Perez to make a few saves.

It remained scoreless at half-time and although Spain again pressed for an opening in the third quarter, Ireland were defending resolutely and the scoreline remained 0-0.

The same pattern continued in the final quarter and with no extra time requirement, the game went straight to a shootout, with Spain coming out on top against their familiar rivals, who regularly play against Spain during warm weather training matches in the winter.