EuroHockey Championship: Two-goal Anna O'Flanagan pleased to finish on high despite not securing World Cup place
- Published
Anna O’Flanagan scored in each half for Ireland
Two-goal Anna O'Flanagan said Ireland need to "improve on the small things" after they finished their EuroHockey campaign with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Italy in Amsterdam.
Zara Malseed got Ireland's third goal as the victory saw them finish sixth overall.
It was not enough to secure a World Cup place but they have another chance to do that at a qualifier in October.
"This European competition, the margins are so small," O'Flanagan said.
"You are one goal away from a semi-final and then you are playing the Olympic champions for fifth, it's crazy.
"It's an amazing tournament to play in but also an extremely difficult one, the most difficult you will play in. We did some good things, some not so good so it is a big learning curve.
"A few things didn't go our way for sure. Tournament hockey is a rollercoaster and we certainly had more downs than ups. We need to look at the fine details, improve on some small things and if we do that we can do some damage."
Ireland will now prepare to take part in the Olympic Games in Tokyo
She added: "We've been disappointed so far so it was really important for us as a team to play well but also to win and score some nice goals.
"So it's nice to finish on a high. It's always been a big summer for us and it is nice to get a bit of confidence going forward."
The result left Ireland with two wins, a draw and two defeats from the competition.
Having been hammered 5-1 by England on Friday, record goalscorer O'Flanagan scored in the second and third quarters before Malseed netted her first international goal in just her second full cap.
After a quiet opening quarter, Ireland won four penalty corners while Malseed showed her key strengths, shooting on sight early from half-chances to test Sofia Monserrat's padding.
The goal arrived in the 27th minute when Upton drove forward from the back and her cross popped up dangerously off a defensive stick but O'Flanagan made no mistake to drill home.
O'Flanagan added the second in the 42nd minute when Sarah Hawkshaw used her pace to out-strip her marker on the right before laying on the perfect pass for O'Flanagan to sweep in her second of the day.
Malseed extended the lead with an expert tip-in, guiding in her first international goal from Katie Mullan's intercept and cross.