![\"Ireland](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sports3203281.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ireland goalkeeper Lizzy Murphy. Photo: Ben McShane\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
A heartening performance against the world\u2019s best women\u2019s team has given Ireland women plenty of optimism heading into today\u2019s must-win encounter against France to keep their EuroHockey Championships bid alive.<\/p>\n
Ireland lost 2-0 to the Netherlands in Monchengladbach on Saturday in a match where goalkeeper Lizzy Murphy admitted \u201call 18 girls put [their] bodies on the line and they absolutely killed it out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murphy, the 25-year-old Loreto stopper, was the standout player against the Dutch after a procession of fine saves from constant Oranje circle penetration. After four successive defeats since the 2018 World Cup final, this was the closest an Irish team has got to threatening a result against the Dutch.<\/p>\n
Murphy said: \u201cWe were such a unit and it just felt we were so connected on the pitch. Everybody knew what they had to do and we knew going up against the world No 1 was going to be some defensive battle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ireland now face world No 19 France, a team eight places below them in the rankings. The French headed into the Euros having won 12 of their previous matches since the Paris Olympics, but lost their opening game against hosts Germany 4-1.<\/p>\n
Having leaked only two goals against the Dutch, a healthy win against France could now prove pivotal in Ireland\u2019s final pool game against Germany on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe go in now in a strong position against France which is just class,\u201d said Murphy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Europeans, we\u2019ve been on the wrong end of goal difference a few too many times and anything can happen at a European A division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ireland head into the French encounter having won all seven previous matches since 2012, with a combined 47 goals.<\/p>\n
Ireland captain Sarah Hawkshaw said: \u201cWe want to get more out of opportunities on the ball, be more patient, build in attack and grow into the game a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland goalkeeper Lizzy Murphy. Photo: Ben McShane\/Sportsfile A heartening performance against the world\u2019s best women\u2019s team has given…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,6686],"class_list":{"0":"post-334865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-latest-news-ticker"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115008291934625311","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}