The New Zealand men’s hockey team will view their match against Ireland today as one that got away.
Ireland, with limited possession and minimal time on attack, scored a 2-1 win, a result that left New Zealand without a victory in the tournament.
New Zealand opened the scoring through a goal by Joe Morrison after just five minutes and things looked promising for the men in whilte.
But Ireland stuck back in the 13th minute and it was 1-1 at halftime.
Immediately on the resumption Ireland went ahead 2-1 and no matter how hard they attacked, the New Zealanders simply could not put the ball in the net again.
Astoundingly, New Zealand had 15 penalty corners, but neither Sam Lane nor Nic Woods could turn them into goals. Ireland had no penalty corners.
Even more telling, New Zealand had 25 shots at goal and scored once. Ireland had just six shots at goal and scored twice.
New Zealand had 56% of the possession, all to no avail.
The New Zealanders will surely reflect on their inability to convert 40 penalty corners during the tournament into more than a couple of goals. In some New Zealand men’s hockey teams that aspect of play has been a strength, but that was not the case in Paris.