Limerick’s Róisín Upton and her Ireland teammates will once again be in action at 04:15 (our time) in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The Ireland hockey side face off against Germany in the third game of Pool A in their Tokyo campaign.
The game will be shown live on RTÉ2.
Sean Dancer’s side won their first match of the games with a 2-0 win over South Africa, with Róisín Upton scoring the opener.
Speaking after the game, the other goalscorer Sarah Torrens had this to say on the experience:
“You could see the smiles when we walked out.”
It was just fun; it was a long day waiting to get out on the pitch and it still feels so surreal. To do it with this group of girls is incredible It is just a pity we can’t do it with family and friends but hopefully we are doing them proud. It is nice to get on the score sheet in the first game; it is what an attacker dreams of and hopefully we can bring that into the next few games.”
The Ireland team followed that up with a courageous effort against the #1 ranked team in the world and gold medal favourites in the Netherlands.
The Dutch broke through in the first half but the Irish team grew into the game before a late flurry of goals made the scoreline of 4-0 seem a lot harsher than the game reflected.
That defeat means that Ireland will be hoping to bounce back for the Germany clash.
As for Wednesday’s opponents, they have a 100% record in their first couple of games with wins over reigning Olympic champions Great Britain and India.
Wednesday’s game will be a tough affair for Ireland against the third ranked team but they managed a 1-1 draw against the Germans in 2019 so there’s no reason why they can’t put it up to them again.
Ireland currently sit in fourth place in Pool A with four of the six teams progressing to the quarter finals when Pool B teams enter the equation.
The upcoming games against India and neighbours Great Britain over the next few days could prove vital to get out of the pool.
Remaining Fixtures
July 28: Germany v Ireland, 4.15am
July 30: Ireland v India, 3.45am
July 31: Ireland v Great Britain, 12.45pm
August 1-6: Knock-out matches
Current Standings
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