Sarah Torrans says the Green Army will “show the world what we can do” against the world No 1 Dutch on Monday after Ireland women notched a debut Olympics win on Saturday.
Ireland made a dream start to life as a women’s Olympic hockey team as they got the best of South Africa by a 2-0 scoreline at the Oi Stadium.
Róisín Upton’s powerful low drag-flick in the ninth minute meant they held the lead from the outset, an advantage they eventually strengthened before the end of the third quarter via Torrans.
“We’re gonna bring this performance to the next one,” said a delighted Torrans.
“We love the attacking style so we’re gonna recover well. Holland are obviously the best in the world so we need to kind of conserve ourselves a little bit but at the same time we don’t want to hold back too much.
“We’re gonna come out fighting on Monday and show the world what we can do.”
There were further corner chances which went incomplete but goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran never looked unduly troubled in a composed defensive outing.
Matthews was denied a third by Mbande’s brilliant diving stop but Ireland content to win with a two-goal cushion.
Holland women eased to a 5-1 win over India with four second half goals, including a first ever Olympic goal for Margot van Geffen.
“It’s cool, it’s a great start but it’s not what I’m here for,” she said. “You know what I’m here for. It’s a good start, a 5-1 win, and now we get ready for the next game.”
“It’s a bit of pressure [being world No.1] but we know it, we’ve won everything in the last four years. We know what we have to do and we just really like it and really want to show everybody how good we can play.”
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