Magee strikes nail Malaysia

By www.hookhockey.com

INSEP Five Nations: Ireland 4 (Eugene Magee 2, Phelie Maguire, Mitch Darling) Malaysia 1 (Hanafi Hafifihafiz)
Ireland kept the possibility of winning the INSEP Five Nations alive as they notched an impressive win over Malaysia in spite of giving up eight corners in Paris this afternoon, recording their best ever win over the Asian nation in their 12th meeting.
It leaves Paul Revington’s side with an outside chance of taking the inaugural title should they beat Scotland and Malaysia fail to beat France in Sunday’s tournament closer.
Peter Caruth – originally a non-travelling reserve – came in for Paul Gleghorne in the first change to the match day 16 this week.
Eugene Magee gave Ireland the early initiative in the 12th minute, taking on the drag-flicking responsibilities for the only goal of the first half. They had a couple of corner opportunities late in the half, too, as Mahammad Razie was sin-binned in the 28th minute but neither were taken to leave the gap at the minimum.
And, with Ronan Gormley yellow-carded for ten minutes, Malaysia started to create more openings in the second half, breaking their duck in the 45th minute when Hanafi Hafifihafiz levelled from open play.
But Phelie Maguire – with his third goal in two days – restored the advantage within two minutes and they created a more comfortable edge soon after.
Initially, Ireland were disappointed when a corner was down-graded to a bully. But Mitch Darling won the face-off and played the ball out to Timmy Cockram on the right wing who switched the ball into the middle for Darling to deflect home his 18th international goal and 3-1.
Malaysia came close to pulling one back soon after when number one runner Andy McConnell was carded for breaking the line. John Jackson kept the follow-up corner out with an excellent reaction save on the line.
The tie was sealed with six minutes to go by Magee whipped home his second corner, this time low to Roslan Jamaluddin’s glove side.
Speaking after the game, coach Paul Revington was pleased his side was able to finish off the tie after two draws: “We took our chances today which we have not done in previous games which is pleasing, but there is still plenty to improve on and rectify.” Ireland play Scotland tomorrow at 12.30 (Irish time) in their final test.
Ireland: David Harte, John Jackson, Geoff McCabe, Ronan Gormley (capt), Joe Brennan, Eugene Magee, Andy McConnell, Timmy Cockram, Phelie Maguire, David Ames, Conor Harte
Subs: Chris Cargo, Alan Giles, Peter Caruth, Alan Sothern, Mitch Darling
Malaysia: Roslan Jamaluddin, Muhamad Amin, Muhammad Marhan, Madzli Ikmar (capt), Shahrun Nabil, Mohamad Sukri, Mirson Azlan, Mahammad Razie, Hanafi Hafifihafiz, Baljit Singh, Ahmad Tajudin
Subs: Tajol Rosli, Izwan Firdaus, Saari Faizal, Mohan Jivan, Nabil Fiqri
Results: Ireland 4 (Eugene Magee 2, Phelie Maguire, Mitch Darling) Malaysia 1 (Hanafi Hafifihafiz); France 6 (Olivier Sanchez 2, Fabian Magner 2, Martin Genestet, Jean-Baptiste Pauchet) Poland 4 (Tomasz Dutkiewicz 2, Artur Mikula, Waldemar Rataj)
Standings: 1. Malaysia 6pts (+1) 2. Scotland 6pts (-1) 3. Ireland 5pts (+3) 4. France 4pts (+1) 5. Poland 1pt (-4)
Match Schedule (Irish Time):
Sunday (1.30pm): Ireland vs Scotland; (3pm) France vs Malaysia.

Kelab Aman launch mini pitch for hockey

KELAB Aman launched a dual-purpose outdoor futsal and hockey court on Saturday to promote a healthy lifestyle among their members.
The Club, which was has been in existence for more than half a century and has an excellent cricket and soccer pitch, now offers an alternative to youth.
“We built the dual-purpose synthetic pitch because we have many members who actively play the sport at other venues.
“Now they can play and train at their home ground, and this facility might even unearth the next Punjabi to play in the national football team after Santokh Singh and Serbegeth Singh,” said Kelab Aman president Jasbere Singh.
Former Kelab Aman president and Malaysian Hockey Federation vice-president Datuk Dr S.S. Cheema was also at the launch and said: “If all clubs in Malaysia build a mini synthetic pitch, which are actually cheap, and utilises less land area, then the MHF dream of being able to match the best in the world would soon be realised.”
Malaysian footballer Titus James, who plays in the French Division Three, was also at the Club for the launch as he is on a one-month break.
The court is open from 7am to midnight, and the opening promotion price is RM80 per-hour, and RM130 per-hour with flood-lights.
For more information, visit www.kelabaman.com or call 03-21486710.

Scots malaise

Scotland were knocked off top spot in the INSEP Hockey Challenge tournament when they went down 3-1 to Malaysia in Paris on the day that Niall Stott won his 100th Scottish cap.
Russell Garcia`s charges had it all to do when they went two down to the talented Asians in the opening seven minutes. The Scots came more into the contest but two Mark Ralph penalty corners and an open play shot from Alan Forsyth brought the best out of the Malaysian keeper.
Scotland should have clawed their way back into the contest following a deliberate foul on Stephen Dick, but Mark Ralph`s effort from the spot cannoned off the bar.
After the interval the Malaysians notched their third when a penalty corner was half cleared and the second phase shot flew past Scottish keeper Jamie Cachia.
The Scots finally found the net in the closing minutes, Kenny Bain was the subject of two crude tackles and Mark Ralph made some amends for his earlier miss by slotting a drag flick into the bottom right corner of the net from the resulting penalty corner. This proved little more than a consolation, and Cachia was called upon to make a crucial save at the death to keep the Malaysians from going further ahead.
“This was not our best performance, we didn`t reached the same heights today as our first game against France, and missing a penalty at a crucial moment in the game didn`t help either,” said Eugene Connolly, Scotland`s manager.
Today the Scots take on Poland who have only a single point from two games.

Scottish Hockey Union media release

Catch the latest with Dhaliwal

For Five-Nation update later 2nite, go to www.malaysianhockey.blogspot.com/

Irish remain unbeaten

By www.hookhockey.com

INSEP Senior Men’s Five Nations: Ireland 3 (Phelie Maguire 2, Ronan Gormley) France 3 (Fabian Magner 3)
Phelie Maguire (pictured) struck his first international goals since February 2008 to help Ireland maintain their unbeaten start to the INSEP Five Nations in Paris this evening, in spite of Fabian Magner’s hat-trick.

But a 3-3 draw against tournament hosts, France, means they need to at least win over 100pc Malaysia in their next tie on Saturday to maintain hopes of winning the title.

In a much livelier affair than yesterday’s blank against Poland, Ireland hit the front very early when skipper Ronan Gormley scored from a corner move, touching in at the post in the fourth minute.

Paul Gleghorne, however, was sin-binned for a ten-minute spell and it was during this spell, Magner turned the game. The first of his three set-piece goals came with the numerical advantage, levelling in the 19th minute from a corner.

And a minute after Gleghorne’s reinstatement he gave his side the half-time impetus from the penalty stroke spot.

Ireland also made use of a numerical advantage when – with the returning Arnaud Becuwe in the bin – Maguire, in his own stylish manner, brought the side level for a second time 11 minutes into the second period when he turned his man on the left of the circle before firing past Matthias Dierckens for 2-2.

Magner whipped home his second corner of the day seven minutes later for Scott Goodheart’s side but their second yellow – Lucas Sevestre this time – coincided with Maguire’s second. This time, he first-timed a bouncing ball to make it 3-3 and set up a lively closing 11 minutes.

France spent the majority of that time when Mathieu Catonnet and subsequently captain Francois Scheefer were shown the French side’s third and fourth yellow cards.

But Ireland were unable to capitalise again and assistant coach Arul Anthoni was left to rue a half-dozen corners which went unconverted.

“We are disappointed in not getting the full points due to the number of chances we created and corners we had. Hopefully we can rectify this for tomorrow focusing on our final touches.” His side next play Malaysia on Saturday at 2.30pm (Irish time) when Alan Sothern could become the fourth player in a week to earn his 50th cap for Ireland following John Jackson, Mitch Darling and Conor Harte who reached the milestone today.

Malaysia, meanwhile, continued their winning start to the competition by beating Scotland 3-1 with goals from Ahmad Tajudin, Hanfi Hafifihafiz and Mahammad Razie – three of the star men in last week’s series in Dublin – and they lead the tournament by three points.

Ireland: David Harte, John Jackson, Ronan Gormley (capt), Eugene Magee, Andy McConnell, Mitch Darling, Timmy Cockram, David Ames, Paul Gleghorne, Conor Harte
Subs: Chris Cargo, Alan Giles, Joe Brennan, Phelie Maguire, Alan Sothern

France: Matthias Dierckens, Tom Genestet, Olivier Sanchez, Arnaud Becuwe, Joost Jansen, Fabien Magner, Bastien Dierckens, Yannick Schambert, Francois Scheefer (capt), Martin Genestet, Valentin Migneau
Subs: Matthieu Catonnet, Lois Sevestre, Guillaume Samson, Lucas Sevestre, Jean-Baptiste Pauchet

Results: Ireland 3 (Phelie Maguire 2, Ronan Gormley) France 3 (Fabian Magner 3); Malaysia 3 (Ahmad Tajudin, Hanfi Hafifihafiz, Mahammad Razie) Scotland 1 (Mark Ralph)

Standings: 1. Malaysia 6pts (+4) 2. Scotland 3pts (-2) 3. Ireland 2pts (0) 4. Poland 1pt (-1) 5. France 1pt (-1)

Match Schedule (Irish Time):
Friday (3pm): Poland vs Scotland
Saturday (2.30pm): Ireland vs Malaysia; (5pm) France vs Poland
Sunday (1.30pm): Ireland vs Scotland; (3pm) France vs Malaysia