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Nicola Daly scored a worldy as Ireland's hockey stars stunned South Africa today

And Nikki Evans grabbed a hat-trick.

THIS CLASS SOLO effort from Nicola Daly was the icing on the cake for Ireland today, who ran out 4-1 winners over South Africa in Valencia.

And Nikki Evans’ hit a hat trick in the opening game of their Hockey World League semi-final. It secured an excellent victory over a higher-ranked  side in the world rankings – Ireland are 14th..

“It was fantastic,” captain Megan Frazer said. “It was a perfectly executed game-plan that inspired the result.”

The result puts Ireland in great shape to advance to one of the four quarter-final places from their initial five-team group. They are back in action tomorrow at 2pm Irish time against European champions Germany.

The tournament acts as the main event for Olympic qualification.

Ireland:  E Gray, C Sargent, E Smyth, K Mullan, S McCay, M Frazer, A Connery, L Colvin, N Daly, H Matthews, A O’Flanagan

Subs: Y O’Byrne, N Evans, G Pinder, C Watkins, K Dillon, A Meeke, A McFerran

Power ranking the 8 best current internationals with a League of Ireland background

It doesn’t sound like Martin O’Neill is expecting a pretty game against Scotland

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    Mute Pauly Kel
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    Feb 23rd 2023, 5:45 PM

    Rip motty.. That iconic voice will never be forgotten. Legend of the game

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    Mute Martin Glynn
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    Feb 23rd 2023, 5:50 PM

    Gutted. Another childhood legend gone. RIP

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    Mute Matt Vaughan
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    Feb 23rd 2023, 6:14 PM

    I can remember Ricky Villa in 1981, Ray Wilkins in 1983, Norman Whiteside in 1985 and his voice made it so glamorous.
    His voice was in your head as you pretended to be those players when you were a kid.
    I loved the winning Argentine goal in 86, at the world cup.
    I was always disappointed if someone else was commenting on a match, and I know people put him in the same bracket with Barry Davies and Bryan Moore.
    Motson was above everyone.

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    Mute Joe Kennedy
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    Feb 23rd 2023, 7:30 PM

    @Matt Vaughan: remember that Ricky Villa commentary from 101 Great Goals VHS tape I used to have. Brilliant for sure!

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    Mute Joe Kennedy
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    Feb 23rd 2023, 7:31 PM
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    Mute Matt Vaughan
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    Feb 23rd 2023, 10:14 PM

    @Joe Kennedy: that was brilliant. Fair play Joe. It’s in his voice, it just captures the excitement in the moment. I could listen to clips of the commentary for hours.
    You’d almost being running out the back trying to copy what you’ve seen with his words ringing in your head. He captured moments, that were enhanced because of his commentary

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    Mute Joe Kennedy
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    Feb 23rd 2023, 11:53 PM

    @Matt Vaughan: “the big man from Argentina went round 1, 2, 3. Joe Corrigan came to block and Villa squeezed it in!” Brilliant!

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