Ireland women will have to produce one of their best attacking performances in recent years to topple Germany on Wednesday and advance to a first EuroHockey Championships semi-final.
Gareth Grundie’s side are yet to find the net after a spirited defeat to the Netherlands and an insipid loss to France. It means that world No.13 Ireland need to beat Germany by two clear goals, assuming that the Dutch, unbeaten at the Euros in a decade, beat France in the final pool matches.
“We were proud of our Dutch performance and our defensive effort where Lizzy [Murphy] was incredible in goal,” said captain Sarah Hawkshaw.
“But we were disappointed with how clinical we were in the France game with not putting it away.
“We hit the post twice and sometimes an inch to the left and the game changes quickly. It will be a game of the two circles against Germany and we have to be incredibly clinical.”
Hawkshaw, 29, was part of an Ireland side that held Germany to a 1-1 draw at her first senior EuroHockey Championships in 2019 held in Belgium, where, incidentally, nine Irish players will be playing club hockey next season.
Since that result, world No.6 Germany have won five in a row, while Ireland’s last victory came at a 3 Nations event in 2018.
At the 2023 Euros in Monchengladbach, Ireland also needed to beat Germany by two goals to progress to the semi-finals but came unstuck in a 5-0 defeat.
“The Europeans is one of the most challenging tournaments in hockey and playing the host team in their stadium at 8pm is what you want,” added Hawkshaw.
“It’s why you commit yourself to the sport. We will go for it and we will bring a lot after our performance against France.”
Germany possess solid ball retention but had little joy against the Dutch in their 5-1 defeat on Monday. Ireland will aim to keep the hosts out of their own circle and will also need to focus on moving the ball quicker to have any chance of finding the two-goal cushion required.
“It is a huge opportunity for us to perform,” said Katie Mullan. “We didn’t perform to the level we are capable of against France.
“We were incredibly proud with our defensive performance against the Dutch, but we also looked dangerous with a few of our attacking opportunities which was a real positive and a step forward.
“We always targeted the last group game. This is tournament hockey and we know all too well the turnaround time is really tight now and we will want to show up against Germany.”
Their hopes of reaching a first semi-final could be scuppered before pushback should France achieve a seismic shock and beat the defending champions.
It is an unlikely outcome. France have only played the Netherlands twice, losing 6-2 at the Paris Olympics and 11-0 a decade ago.
Mullan added: “Our focus is around putting on a performance we can be proud of at the end of 60 minutes. That way we will enjoy our game which is when we are at our best.
“We are still chasing our first goal and that’s a huge motivator for us.”