Penalty shootout agony for Ireland in Nations Cup semi-finals

Ireland missed out on a place in the gold medal match of the Women's FIH Hockey Nations Cup by the finest of margins after a penalty shootout loss to India in their semi-final on Friday.

After 60 minutes of nail-biting drama, the penalty shootout decided the fate of Sean Dancer's side who will now face Japan in the bronze medal match on Saturday whereas India advance to a gold medal decider against Spain.

The Girls in Green defended for much of the match but were impressive in attack, causing the Indian defence plenty of problems.

Charlotte Beggs and Sarah Hawkshaw marshalled the midfield well, with Hannah McLoughlin and Sarah McAuley creative out of defence. Indeed, it was underdogs Ireland who went in front through a sublime Naomi Carroll shot in the closing stages of the first quarter.

Captain Katie Mullan had made a gut-busting run down the right sideline before a diving pass found Carroll, who used her first touch to lift the ball over her defender's stick. She then dribbled the ball in the air into the attacking circle and hit sweetly in between the goalkeeper’s legs to put Ireland a goal in front.

India won 12 penalty corners in the match, four of them in the first half, but Liz Murphy was in electric form between the posts and kept the Indian threat at bay. In fact, it was Ireland who looked like they had scored the second goal of the match when Christina Hamill found Siofra O’Brien, who crossed on the reverse for Carroll. The ball found its way into the goal off a combination of Carroll and her defender, but India referred and the video umpire adjudged that O’Brien had used the back of her stick and so the goal was disallowed.

It was a reprieve for India who went in at half-time looking dejected, unsure of how they