Ireland beaten by Dutch in EuroHockey opener

Katie Mullan battles for possession against the Netherlands

Ireland lost their opening game of the EuroHockey Championships 2-0 to reigning Olympic, world and European champions the Netherlands in Monchengladbach.

Goals from Joosje Burg and Yibbi Jansen were enough for the Dutch as temperatures in north-western Germany edged towards 30C on a brutally hot day.

Ireland coach Gareth Grundie will take plenty of positives from a strong defensive performance that bodes well for the rest of the tournament.

"I think that's probably the closest we've come to them in competition in a long time," Grundie told BBC Sport NI after the defeat.

"[I'm] obviously not [happy] the result but happy with the performance, happy in terms of goal difference going into the rest of the group so it actually sets us up quite nicely depending on a couple of other results."

The only goal in the first half came with a little luck after nine minutes against the run of play when Ireland were settling in the game.

Ireland goalkeeper Lizzie Murphy made an outstanding save, only to see the ball ricochet off the chest of Sarah McAuley and into the path of Burg who had a simple tap-in.

Roisin Upton and Hannah McLoughlin brilliantly marshalled the Ireland defence as they frustrated the Dutch in the second quarter as the heat began to take its toll on both sides.

A harsh penalty corner call on Upton was punished by the Netherlands in the third quarter when Jansen‘s shot beat Murphy.

Ireland were not deterred, however, and came close through Katie Mullan after great work from Mikayla Power.

Mullan was denied by Dutch keeper Josine Kosing, who was on hand again to save from McLoughlin‘s shot at a penalty corner as Ireland pushed forward and refused to sit back.

"The idea was always to make sure that we were really disciplined," Grundie added.

"They're an outstanding side, so the longer that we could stay in the game we knew we might get an opportunity, and if one had gone in then we might have been able to push towards the end.

"I think we actually have to keep that same discipline, take that same approach against France [on Monday], but we have to have a little bit more confidence in ourselves on the ball and go and play our own game a little bit more."