On a very chilly Tuesday evening, Ireland met Malaysia in the first match of a two game series, at Lisnagarvey’ s ground in Hillsborough.
Ireland seemed to catch Malaysia cold going 2 up in 8 minutes with debut goals from Conor Empey and Sam Hyland.
Play settled down with both defenses now on top. Ireland lead 2-0 after the 1st quarter.
The 2nd quarter similar to the latter half of the 1st, with both teams content to get 11 players behind the ball in defense. Ireland lead 2-0 at the break.
Defense ruled again in the 3rd quarter with the deadlock finally being broken, seconds before the hooter, when Abu Kamal Azrai pulled one back for Malaysia, with a fine strike. Ireland lead 2-1 after the 3rd quarter.
The goal added impetus to Malaysia, who carved out a number of attacks leading to penalty corners. On 52 minutes, Razie Rahim equalized for Malaysia, when he converted a corner, with a low strike.
Ireland gathered themselves together and put together a series of attacks and took the lead when Empey struck for his second goal of the night after 58 minutes.
A last Malaysian attack was snuffed out and Ireland held on for a 3-2 victory.
