Ireland were beaten 5-1 by the Netherlands, the world’s number one ranked team, on their FIH Pro League debut in Bhubaneswar, India.
Tjep Hoedemakers, Jorrit Croon and Jip Janssen put the Dutch into a commanding 3-0 lead in India.
Ireland created a number of chances and were rewarded when Lee Cole pulled a goal back.
However, Janssen added a fourth before a Steijn van Heijningen cross was turned into his own net by Tim Cross.
As Ireland go through a steep learning curve in the world’s premier hockey competition, head coach Mark Tumilty was looking at the positives after facing off against the best side in the world..
“I didn’t think it was a 5-1 game,” said Tumilty.
“If we could have gotten a second goal in the third quarter it would have been a different result.
“I’m 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.
“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.”
