India took on Ireland in the first game of the Men’s Hockey World League in Rotterdam in what proved to be a thrilling game of hockey.
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In a first half full of incident, India took the lead through Akashdeep Singh. Picked out inside the opposing area, his turn and shot rocketed past David Harte in the Irish goal to give India a 1-0 lead.
But their lead wasn’t to last when a brilliant solo effort from Alan Sothern saw the Irish draw level. Beating two defenders, he broke into the box before lifting the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper to equalise and make the game 1-1.
Ireland took the lead after a great team move looked to have been saved, but Paul Gleghorne reacted quickest to fire the rebound into the back of the net and put Ireland 2-1 in front at halftime.
Ireland weren’t able to prevent an Indian equaliser. Rupinder Pal Singh drilled a low shot from a penalty corner to make it 2-2.
And India retook the lead shortly afterwards. Raghunath fired a low ball through to Shivendra Singh who gave it the gentlest of touches to deflect the ball into the goal and make the score 3-2 to India.
But Ireland weren’t done yet. Their penalty corners had threatened all game and it finally payed off. Conor Harte received the pass from the penalty corner and his thunderbolt shot crashed past Parattu Raveendran to make it 3-3.
Moments later Ireland were ahead. Andrew McConnell was brave in challenging for Timothy Cockram’s through ball, beating goalkeeper Sreejesh to restore the Irish lead to 4-3.
Ultimately nothing could separate the sides. Rupinder Pal Singh got his second and India’s fourth to draw level at 4-4 and give India a share of the spoils.
Teams:
India: R. P Singh, Khadangbam, Manpreet Singh, Sardar Singh (C), D. Singh, Vokkaliga Ramachandra (C), G. Singh, Parattu Raveendran (GK), Shivendra Singh, Sowmarpet Vitalacharya, Kangujam. Subs; Sandeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Thimmaiah, Sandhu, Potunuri (GK), Lakra, A. Singh.
Ireland: D. Harte (GK), Jackson, Gormley (C), Cargo, Sothern, Caruth, McConnell, Cockram, Maguire, Gleghorne, C. Harte. Subs; Bell, Watt, Fitzgerald (GK), Good, Bruton, Loughrey, O’Donoghue.
