Ireland’s men completed the Olympic line-up for this summer as they won a 4-3 thriller over Korea in Valencia, becoming the 24th side confirmed for Paris.
They started in confident form, bursting into the lead through Matthew Nelson’s corner deflection and a volleyed-rebound from Ben Johnson.
Korea nicked on back but a Johnny McKee near post finish from Sean Murray’s super assist seemingly had the Green Machine on their way.
Junwoo Jeong, however, cut the gap once more before half-time, keeping it tight at 3-2. Again, in the 40th minute, Shane O’Donoghue fired Ireland two goals clear but the reply came immediately with Jonghyun Jang netting a penalty stroke within a minute.
And that was how it remained in a helter-skelter final quarter in which Korea had an effort go over the line but only via the back of an attacker – confirmed on video review – while another shot hit the post.
For Ireland, they got over the line and put a few hoodoos to bed. Korea had denied them a place at the 2012 Olympic Games with Nam Jong Lee scoring with six seconds to go.
Tokyo was also out of reach following a last gasp penalty stroke against Canada which player of the match and captain Sean Murray referenced post game
“I’m just lost for words. Credit to Korea – they came out and it was a horribly tough game.
“I’ve been on the other side of that before where we’ve lost a match for the Olympic Games and now we get to feel what it’s like to qualify and I can’t put it into words how proud I am of the team and just ecstatic.”
New Zealand were the other side to get a ticket on the final day of action in the qualification process. They left it late, scoring twice in the closing minutes to break Pakistan’s hearts with a 3-2 success.
In the qualifiers finals, Belgium won the tournament in Valencia with a 3-2 win over Spain while Germany defeated Great Britain 1-0.
It means five of the six men’s qualifier spots went to European sides. Belgium, Germany, Spain, Great Britain and Ireland now join the Netherlands and France in Paris.
There they will compete with Australia, New Zealand, India, Argentina and South Africa are the other nations involved.
