Men’s EuroHockey Championship III (Kirklareli, Türkiye) – day five round-up

Final

Ukraine 9 Türkiye 5

Ukraine made it double EuroHockey Championship III gold as they emulated their women’s earlier success following a wild 9-5 win over hosts Türkiye in Kirklareli.

Four goals from Andrii Koshelenko and three from Maksym Onofriiuk underpinned the result as they got their noses in front early on and then withstood a late onslaught for a famous win.

Onofriiuk started the run in the 12^th minute before Koshelenko made it 2-0; Müslüm Elagöz pulled one back but Koshelenko’s second established a 3-1 half-time lead. That was transformed to 5-1 when the Onofriiuk-Koshelenko axis struck again before Müslüm Ekinci kept Türkiye hopes alive going into the final quarter.

But Ukraine had the ultimate game-breaking moment in the 51^st minute when both Koshelenko and Vitalii Semeniushko combined for a 7-2 lead.

Ekinci, Elagöz and Mehmet Aydin scored three in five minutes to reduce the gap to 7-5 with three minutes left but Oleksii Popov and Onofriiuk’s third quelled any further worries over the destination of the gold medal.

Bronze Match

Lithuania 3 Bulgaria 1

Lithuania took the bronze medal with a composed 3-1 win over Bulgaria as Dominykas Vaikenas’s pair of goals in the second half copper-fastened the win.

Povilas Sinkevičius got his sixth goal of the tournament to put his side in front in the eighth minute before eventually pulling away in the second half with Vaikenas making it 3-0 with eight minutes to go.

Bulgaria did get one back via Radoslav Grozkov in the final minute but have to be content with a fourth place finish on their return to EuroHockey Championship action and the FIH World Rankings after a decade away.

Pool C

Malta 0 Finland 1

Finland took fifth place as they edged out Malta 1-0 in a thrilling closing encounter; the Finns has the upper hand in the first half while the Maltese were on top in the second phase but the game was ultimately decided by Elmeri Rihtilä’s single goal in the 45^th minute, following a pass from Aaron Lehmus and Lauri Ondreka.

In the final period, Finland defended tightly and attacked dangerously a few times. Malta created a few good chances, but Jussi Luhta, who played in goal in the second half, held on with the support of a self-sacrificing defense. Malta end in sixth place as a result

Luxembourg 1 Hungary 2

Hungary got the best of a late flurry of goals to earn seventh place and equal their best ever finish in men’s EuroHockey Championship II, leaving Luxembourg to settle for eighth in their debut event.

Zsigmond Szóga opened the scoring in the 49^th minute before Loic Prost-Gargoz levelled just a minute later. Sebastian Leber, however, won the day in the 53^rd minute despite his side being reduced to 10 players moments earlier.

Rank	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Finland	3	2	1	0	6	4	7
2	Malta	3	2	0	1	12	3	6
3	Hungary	3	1	0	2	6	9	3
4	Luxembourg	3	0	1	2	3	11	1

Top goalscorer: Andrii Koshelenko (Ukraine) – 10 goals

Player of the tournament: Dmytro Luppa (Ukraine)

Goalkeeper of the tournament: Bohdan Tovstolytkin (Ukraine)

Final rankings

1. Ukraine
2. Türkiye
3. Lithuania
4. Bulgaria
5. Finland
6. Malta
7. Hungary
8. Luxembourg