Ireland 2-8 Germany
Ireland were outclassed by world champions Germany suffering an 8-2 defeat in their FIH Pro League in Bhubaneswar.
Matthew Nelson's goal kept Ireland in the contest after the Germans hit two goals from play in the opening quarter.
The world champions had their third early in the second quarter but again Ireland responded, this time through Peter McKibbin. But from there, the Germans' class shone through as Mark Tumilty's side were given a lesson.
Coming off Saturday's defeat to India, Ireland started on the back foot and they went 1-0 down thanks to a seventh minute penalty corner from Thies Prinz. Thomas Struthof made it two soon after, firing low into the bottom corner.
Nelson got on the end of a well worked move to halve the deficit, but Germany responded immediately, rattling the stanchion to restore the two-goal cushion. But Ireland made a quick counter, Ben Walker drawing the foul in the circle to win a penalty stroke that McKibbin converted, to net his first goal in green.
Germany would provide the final action of the first half, restoring their two-goal lead with Raphael Hartkopf slapping the ball first time past Luke Roleston in net.
Ireland continued to play positively, testing German goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg on a number of occasions. Germany were much more clinical though, netting twice in both the third and fourth quarter to see out a dominant performance.
"It was a difficult day for the team," Tumilty said afterwards.
"Collectively and individually we did not play to the standards required at this level. We must recognise the importance of technical and physical ability at this level if we want to be competitive. We need to refocus and fully concentrate on producing a better performance tomorrow."
Ireland will play Germany again in their final FIH Pro League match in India, with the game set to take place at 9.30am Irish time on Tuesday.
Ireland: Luke Roleston (GK); Luke Witherow; Kyle Marshall (C); Peter McKibbin; Ben Walker; Jonathan Lynch; Peter Brown; Ben Nelson; Ben Johnson; Nicholas Page; Greg Williams.
Subs used: Daragh Walsh [3 mins]; Matthew Nelson [4 mins]; Kevin O' Dea [4 mins]; Ben Ryder [4 mins]; Conor Empey [5 mins]; Adam Walker [7 mins]; Jamie Carr (GK) [31 mins]
Germany: Jean-Paul Dannenberg (GK); Raphael Hartkopf; Thies Prinz; Benedikt Schwarzhaupt; Johannes Grosse; Teo Hinrichs; Gonzalo Peillat; Michael Struthof; Hannes Mueller (C); Malte Hellwig; Moritz Ludwig.
Subs used: Hugo Von Monteglas [3 mins]; Niklas Bosserhoff [3 mins]; Elan Manzkour [4 mins]; Linus Mueller [5 mins]; Paul-Philipp Kaufmann [5 mins] Henrik Mertgens [5 mins].
