Women's Hockey World Cup: Ireland finish 11th after 3-1 defeat by China

Ireland now switch focus to the EuroHockey qualifiers in Dublin next month

Ireland finished the World Cup in 11th place after losing 3-1 to China in their final classification game.

It was tightly contested throughout with Ireland creating more chances from open play.

However, Chen Yang's corner goal put China ahead before Zhong Jiaqi and Chen Yanhua stretched their lead to put the game beyond the Irish.

Michelle Carey netted a late consolation for Ireland, who finish above their pre-tournament ranking.

It is a disappointing end to a campaign that saw Ireland play some neat and tidy hockey at times between the circles while managing only four penalty corner goals in five matches.

One of the frailties of this inexperienced Irish side is the patience to pick the right ball at the right time.

Sean Dancer's side created chances from open play, but the lack of a natural goalscorer remains a problem moving forward especially when playing countries higher ranked in the world.

Ireland return home from a tournament that has had very few shocks unlike four years ago when the Irish and Spain set the world alight by finishing second and third respectively.

The eight countries contesting the quarter-finals are the current top eight in the world rankings. Six of those countries have been playing regularly in the FIH Pro League in the build-up to the World Cup with Australia and New Zealand the exceptions due to their strict Covid-19 rules of entering and leaving their respective countries.

Ireland's 11th place was above their current world ranking of 13th but as a group they have higher ambitions and came here to reach the last eight.

They will look back at the poor performance against Chile in the Pool stage as an opportunity missed although a quarter-final play-off against Belgium would have been a tough game to win.

Deirdre Duke was one of the Irish players to be thwarted by China goalkeeper Liu Ping

More importantly, from an Irish perspective, were the performances against Germany, South Africa and China where they showed they can compete against teams of a similar world ranking.

For a young squad - five players made their international debuts in this tournament and seven more have 31 caps or fewer - the experience gained over the past two weeks will be invaluable as they look ahead to the qualification process for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The first step towards that goal comes next month when they face Poland, Czech Republic and Turkey in the EuroHockey qualifiers in Dublin, with one place available for the championships next year.

Securing that gives them the opportunity to qualify for the Olympic qualification tournaments in early 2024 where, more than likely, they will have to beat one or two countries higher ranked than them currently to make the Paris Games.

This year also sees the inaugural Nations Cup in Valencia in December for countries not in the Pro League, but with the opportunity to be promoted to it.

Spain, Korea, Japan, South Africa, India, Italy and Canada will join Ireland in what will be another barometer of this Irish side's progression.

And we've seen that they have plenty of room for improvement if they can find games against tougher opposition which isn't easy with the Pro League taking precedent.

What is exciting is that four of this squad - Caoimhe Perdue, Christina Hamill, Sarah McAuley and Siofra O'Brien - also played in the Junior World Cup earlier this year and Charlotte Beggs would have if not for injury.

There are other members of that squad wanting their first senior caps while those five have acquitted themselves well in Amsterdam.

There is also the possibility that the likes of Anna O'Flanagan and Chloe Watkins may return to the panel after taking a break from the international scene following the Tokyo Olympics, while players like Zoe Wilson could come back after long-term injuries.

Competition for places is strong and that can only bode well for the next two years heading hopefully to Paris, and beyond.