Ireland Hockey side face must win against Team GB as India win late

Ireland’s quarter-final hopes will go down to the wire as Navneet Kaur’s 57th minute winning goal for India denied them what would have been a crucial point at the Oi Stadium, as they lost out 1-0 in the end.

The deflection from Rani Rampal’s reverse-stick cross finally broke the Irish defences as India eventually took advantage of their large volume of control on the game. Sean Dancer’s side defended heroically, with Ayeisha McFerran producing another slew of brilliant saves - but just as it looked like a vital draw was on the cards, India nicked their winner.

It means Ireland remains in fourth place on three points in the chase for the fourth quarter-final berth, just ahead of India on goal difference. India face bottom side South Africa while Ireland conclude their group against reigning champions, Great Britain.

Deirdre Duke played her 150th cap today and was disappointed with their performance: “It feels pretty irrelevant now to be honest, that was a game that we needed to win and we didn’t so that’s my overwhelming feeling. Quick turnaround tomorrow. Depending on other results now, that quarter final spot is still up for grabs, so we’re going to have to park this pretty quick and get ourselves up for a big one tomorrow.

“We pride ourselves on being pretty adaptable. It’s the same for both teams. We kind of settled for a little while. It was only an extra hour so we had a little more time to prepare – it wasn’t a factor, it’s the same for both teams, but we started a little slow.

“We win as a team and we lose as a team. We are going to have to regroup and take a look at ourselves individually but it is always a collective effort and we always rally together and we rally around each other. We go again tomorrow.”