BRITAIN STOP IRISH EYES FROM SMILING
Great Britain returned to winning ways with a 20-5 triumph
over Ireland on Day Three of the LEN European Nations Trophy
at Manchester Aquatics Centre.
The host nation recorded their second victory of the competition,
following Sunday's 20-9 win over Israel and Monday's loss
to France.
Lancaster's Tom Curwen scored seven to take his tally for
the competition to 17 - moving second in the tournament's
goalscoring charts behind France captain Frederic Audon, who
has 22 - while captain Craig Figes, of Bristol Central, and
Cheltenham's Mark Banwell, who both grabbed four, also excelled
for the host nation.
Manchester goalkeeper Ed Scott was close to impenetrable
for much of the match, repelling any Irish threat on his goal.
Britain started with a drop defence, employed to nullify
the threat of Jonathan Kirk, Ireland's centre forward. The
practise was very effective, forcing Ireland to explore other
options and Kirk to move out of his favoured position.
Britain had more success at centre forward and Rotherham's
Adam Scholefield turned Jonathan Donnelly to win a penalty.
Curwen opened the scoring from five metres.
Scholefield troubled Ireland once more and had Alan Fogarty
excluded. The former Britain Under-21 captain then exchanged
passes with skipper Craig Figes to double the host nation's
lead. Figes grabbed a third on the fast break to leave Ireland
reeling.
Cheltenham centre-forward Mark Banwell was equally as effective
as Scholefield, and Curwen scored his second from the left
wing when Stephen Murphy was excluded. Banwell added a fifth
and Andrew Squires scored a sixth. Banwell claimed his second
with 1.8 seconds left in the quarter.
Scott saved well from Ireland's Darren McHugh and gathered
the ball before releasing Curwen on the fast break and he
drove towards goal before lobbing Christopher Hodgkinson to
complete his hat-trick. Figes found Scholefield who took his
second of the game after turning the centre defender. Patrick
Lowery then opened the Irish account.
Curwen took Britain into double figures with 1:13 remaining
in the half after Thornton was excluded. Scott denied Ciaran
Walshe and Britain used their first time out with 5.3 seconds
left when Eoin Nolan was found guilty of a personal foul.
It was enough time for Britain to move the ball into space
for left-hander Alex Parsonage to score from the right wing.
Figes scored his second 34 seconds into the second half from
the left wing. Michael Kelleher cancelled out Figes' strike,
but the Bristol Central player hit back 22 seconds later to
get his third.
Rob Parker scored after Kelleher was excluded for fouling
Carpenter. Parker set up Cheltenham team-mate Banwell who
earned a penalty at the expense of Graham Fogarty, which Curwen
again converted.
Donnelly scored Ireland's third on a fast break to open the
fourth-period scoring and McHugh scored a shot from six metres.
But Kelleher received his third personal foul to rule him
out of the remainder of the game and Curwen scored his sixth
from the resulting 6-on-5. Banwell completed his hat-trick,
before Curwen scored again. Graham Fogarty scored after a
pass the length of the pool from Hodgkinson, but then Banwell
got his fourth.
Figes added his fourth and Britain's 20th with 50 seconds
left to complete the scoring.
Result: 20-5 (7-0; 4-1; 4-1; 5-3)
Great Britain: 1 Ed Scott, 2 Sean Ryder, 3 Mark Banwell (4
goals), 4 Scott Carpenter, 5 Craig Figes (Capt, 4), 6 Andrew
Squires (1), 7 Alex Parsonage (1), 8 Tom Curwen (7), 9 Rob
Parker (1), 10 Adam Scholefield (2), 11 Chris Gilbertson,
12 Matthew Thresher, 13 Matthew Birch
Ireland: 1 Christopher Hodgkinson (Capt), 2 Alan Fogarty,
3 Eoin Nolan, 4 Kevin Thornton, 5 Graham Fogarty (1 goal),
6 Patrick Lowery (1), 7 Darren McHugh (1), 8 Jonathan Donnelly
(1), 9 Ciaran Walshe, 10 Jonathan Kirk, 11 Michael Kelleher
(1), 12 Stephen Murphy, 13 Eoin Doyle
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