THE IRISH MEN’S hockey team kick-started their Olympic qualification bid with a resounding 5-1 win over Ukraine. 

Ireland opened the scoring when Ben Johnson scored from a penalty corner in the 25th minute, with Lee Cole doubling the lead. Ukraine pulled a goal back through Viacheslav Paziuk a minute later to leave the score at 2-1 at half-time. 

A pretty even third-quarter gave way to a final quarter dominated by Ireland, in which they glossed the scoreboard through goals from Cole, Jeremy Duncan – on his 100th cap – and Darragh Walsh. 

“It’s a very proud day for my family and myself to play 100th game for my country”, said Duncan. “It’s always good to score a goal but the 5-1 was the most important thing. We have things to work on ahead of tomorrow’s game against Belgium the number two ranked team in the world. It’s going to be a tough task, as will be the final group game against Japan.” 

Ireland are in a pool with Ukraine, Belgium and Ukraine, from which the top two will progress to the semi-finals. The two semi-final winners along with the winner of a play-off between both losers qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. 

Belgium hammered Japan 7-0 in the group’s other game, ahead of a meeting with Ireland today. 

Ireland: David Harte, Tim Cross, Shane O’Donoghue, Luke Madeley, John McKee, Matthew Nelson, Peter McKibbin, Sean Murray (C), Jeremy Duncan, Michael Robson, Nicholas Page

Subs: Ben Johnson , Lee Cole, Kyle Marshall, Jonathan Lynch, Darragh Walsh, Sam Hyland

Ukraine: Roman Bludov, Mykhailo Yasinskyi , Viacheslav Paziuk, Dmytro Luppa (C), Vitalii Shevchuk, Maksym Onofriiuk, Bohdan Kovalenko, Andrii Koshlenko, Olksandr Solomianyi, Oleksandr Boiko, Volodymyr Kaplinskyi

Subs: Bohdan Tovstolytkin (GK), Dmytro Hrubyi, Iurii Moroz, Oleksii Popov, Volodymyr Zhmereniuk, Volodymy Kostechko, Oleksandr Yasinskyi