Tokyo Olympics: Ayeisha McFerran 'best in the world right now' - Ireland captain Katie Mullan after Dutch defeat

Katie Mullan believes Ayeisha McFerran is the best goalkeeper in the world on present form

Ireland captain Katie Mullan hailed Ayeisha McFerran as "the best goalkeeper in the world right now" after a string of fine saves kept the Netherlands at bay in Tokyo on Monday.

Ireland went into the final quarter of their Olympic Games encounter with the Dutch trailing 1-0 but conceded three further goals to the world champions.

"Ayeisha is so hard to beat. She made save after save," said Mullan.

"We are so proud of her. She is so professional in everything she does."

"To do anything in these tournaments you need a world class goalkeeper and we are so lucky to have her," added the Ireland skipper after her side's 4-0 loss in their second group match.

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Ireland beat South Africa 2-0 in their opener on Saturday and the first of their three remaining games is against Germany on Wednesday as they bid to secure a quarter-final place.

Fixtures against India on Friday and Great Britain on Saturday will follow.

Felice Albers gave the Dutch an early lead but Ireland then kept the world champions out for almost 40 minutes before late goals from Malou Pheninckx, Laurien Leurink and Frédérique Matla ensured a comfortable win.

Germans struggle with 'Irish fighting spirit'

"Defensively we were so solid and we made it so hard for the Dutch to score. I'm really proud of our defensive effort," enthused Mullan.

"A few things didn't go our way towards the end of the game and that's when they scored their goals but we can take confidence from how hard we were to beat.

"The Germans find it hard against the Irish fighting spirit and I've no doubt we will bring that into the next game.

"We have a lot of homework and preparation to do but we really enjoy playing against them."

Ireland coach Sean Dancer echoed Mullan's words about the role played by McFerran in keeping the scoreline down.

"Ayeisha had a great game. She saved us on a number of occasions so great credit to her. The fact we went into the last quarter 1-0 down was down to her efforts.

"The girls know Germany and we have confidence going into that game," he added.

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