Ireland battled to a 4-1 victory over South Africa in their World Cup clash in Wavre on Tuesday to leave them needing a draw against Spain in Thursday’s final Pool C game to advance to the second phase of the tournament.
After going behind to a spectacular goal from Kenton Melville in the third quarter, Ben Walker equalised and a pair of Lee Cole penalty corner goals in the final 15 minutes set Ireland on the road to a hard-fought win.
However, it was Sam Hyland’s effort with 11 seconds remaining that could prove crucial.
That goal tied the Spanish on points and goal difference, but his strike was Ireland‘s fifth of the tournament to Spain’s three, edging the Irish ahead in the tie-breaking scenarios.
This was not as straightforward a game for Mark Tumilty’s side as the scoreline may suggest.
Both sides had lost their opening games, Ireland beaten 3-1 by Australia and South Africa losing by the same scoreline to Spain, so this was a must-win.
The African champions took the game to Ireland but in goalkeeper Jamie Carr, the Irish have one of the best in world hockey and he made a string of significant saves throughout the game.
He could do nothing about Melville’s opening goal which somehow saw the South African forward contort his body and stick into a position to be able to lift the ball over Carr from close range.
At this stage, midway through the third quarter, Ireland were struggling but once they found a higher tempo to their game they equalised when Walker scored.
The pivotal moment of the game came in the opening stages of the final 15 minutes.
Carr was initially penalised for clattering into a South African forward and the umpire awarded a penalty stroke.
Carr referred it to the video umpire and replays clearly saw that the Irish goalkeeper had made the save before contact with Carlon Mentoor took place.
The decision was reversed and within seconds Ireland had been awarded a penalty corner at the other end for a South African player being adjudged to deliberately have played the ball over the goal line.
On another day that decision is given as a deflection but Cole was not going to pass up the opportunity to fire Ireland in front.
He repeated the trick to make it 3-1 with four minutes remaining but with every goal counting Ireland played to the last 11 seconds and were rewarded when Hyland popped up at the back post to score.
Even then as time ran out the South Africans forced Carr into one more save to preserve the victory.
