Róisín Upton delight as sensational Ireland take flight against Turkey to book EuroHockey spot

Three goals in the second and third quarter put them out of sight against the world No 33 side, putting them on course for a third successive victory and top spot – all without conceding a goal.

Michelle Carey, Naomi Carroll, Katie McKee, Niamh Carey, Deirdre Duke, Róisín Upton and Sarah Hawkshaw all scored in the comprehensive success, adding to earlier wins over Poland and the Czech Republic.

“Delighted, it’s really important we are competing against the best teams in Europe next summer. It is a stepping stone for Paris 2024 and that’s what the past three games are all about,” said Upton, following a tournament where she was top scorer and voted player of the tournament.

“This is a new structure in the Europeans and it opens things right up. You are playing different teams you don’t normally get to meet. We dealt with it well, got a good opening win against Poland. We had a tougher game against the Czech Republic who sat very deep and today we are delighted to put seven on the scoreboard.

“The tournament clean sheet is probably the most pleasing thing. We put a real emphasis this tournament on our defensive effort.”

The first quarter saw Ireland knock on the door to no avail with Turkey soaking up continuous pressure. While that was a frustrating phase, they did not have long to wait in the second quarter to break the deadlock.

The corner count started to mount and from that avenue, Upton teed up Michelle Carey to deflect in a spectacular first goal.

Two minutes later the move was almost identical as Hannah McLoughlin swept the ball to the p-spot, where Carroll guided it into the net. McKee continued the brilliant run with her first international goal. It came from a Turkish corner which was blocked and filtered out to Michelle Carey, who fired a 70-metre pass for the Pegasus forward to clip home.

The goal rush continued in the second half with Niamh Carey wrong-footing the Turkish goalkeeper from mid-circle. Duke touched in a fifth when Hawkshaw cracked a reverse-stick pass to the back post.

Upton then got her third goal of the tournament with a low penalty corner shot and Hawkshaw thumped home a cracking shot seven minutes from time to add an extra gloss.

Scorers – M Carey, N Carroll, K McKee, N Carey, D Duke, R Upton, S Hawkshaw

Ireland – L Murphy, S McAuley, M Carey, S Hawkshaw, K Mullan, L Tice, N Carroll, C Perdue, D Duke, E Curran. Subs: N Carey, H McLoughlin, S Torrans, C Beggs, K McKee, C Hamill, A McFerran