Veteran defender V. Raghunath’s early goal and a follow up brace of goals by his peer in defence Rupinder Pal Singh gave India a gainful but shaky start at Rio. Trailing all through first three quarters, the Irish came from behind with late surges to take match to an edge of the seat thriller.

Always a poor starter, India for once gained full points with a narrow 3-2 win over Ireland.

Despite dominating first three quarters, Indian gave enough leeway for the Irish to strike two goals in the space of 10 minutes and then forcing Ramandeep Singh get a yellow card suspension three minutes before hooter, the Irish almost took all sweat out of India.

With clear passes and clinical pressings, India dominated almost 45 minutes of the game

Shane O’Donogue struck at the fag end of third quarter (seconds before close time) to reduce Indian margin (1-2) and then using another penalty corner Conor Harte tapped in a soft rebound above the head of Sreejesh to reduce the margin to 3-2 with just four minutes left in the clock (2-3).

Interstingly, all the goal were today struck off penalty corners

Ireland over all got eight penalty corners compared to India’s six. Good defence by India and a disallowed goal helped India emerge unscathed.

When India struck off a penalty corner in the 49th minute, second goal of Rupinder Pal Singh, it appeared smooth passage for India, but Conor Harte’s opportunistic goal put the Indians on mate.

India dominated first three quarters, took comfortable 2-0 lead at half time.

Indian forwards however did not shine, perhaps aimed to create penalty corners as a part of strategy.

Akashdeep Singh missed a couple of sitters, while Ramandeep Singh was conspicuous for his near absence from action.

In the earlier part, Nikkin Thimmaiah and SK Uthappa shone with good single-handed thrust ins and turn overs, but the forwards inside the circle were sloppy.

It was left to Raghunath to pep up the attack.

Sardar Singh played upfront with mixed result.

INDIA: PR Sreejesh(gk), V Raghunath, Rupinder Pal Singh, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh, Sardar Singh, Devinder Walmiki, Danish Mujtaba, SK Uthappa, Nikkin Thimmaiah, SV Sunil, Chinglensana Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh. SB: Pardeep Mor, Vikas Dahiya. Chief Coach: Roelant Oltmans, Manager: Tushar Khandker, Physio: Shrikant Iyenkar, Masseur: Arup Naskar, Video: Aadhithya Chakravarthy, Scientific advisor: Mathew Fyles, Analytical Coach: Roger van Gent.

IRELAND: David Harte (gk), John Jackson, Jonathan Bell, Ronan Gormley, Michael Watt, Chris Cargo, Alan Sothern, John Jermyn, Eugene Magee, Peter Caruth, Kirk Shimmins, Shane O’Donoghue, Michael Darling, Kyle Good, Paul Gleghorne, Conor Harte. SB: Timothy Cockram, Michael Robson. Manager: Stephen Barry, Chief Coach: Craig Fulton, Coach: Jonny Caren.

Umpires: Grime Murray (Aus) & Paco Vazquez (ESP)

HEAD TO HEAD BEFORE TODAY: Played: 6. India won 4: India lost: 1, Draw 1.

Photo Courtesy: Yan Huckendubler