Ireland, Italy and Poland marked themselves out as the main contenders on day one of the men’s EuroHockey U21 Championship II-A with emphatic, double-figure victories in Poznań.
The Irish began the run with captain Ryan Williams, Sam Dale and Toby O’Connell all scoring hat tricks in an 11-1 win over Croatia.
** Picture: Mateusz Substyk
O’Connell scored twice in the first three minutes to set them on their way, going 4-0 clear by the end of Q1 and 6-0 at half-time. Croatia’s one piece of respite came with 13 minutes to go via Leon Hercigonja.
Italy were too strong for Ukraine with seven goals in the first 20 minutes propelling them to a 10-0 win. Jonas Carelli and Valerio Iossa both fired triples as their victory followed a similar story to game one; 4-0 after the first quarter and 7-0 at the big break.
And hosts Poland completed the sequence with an 11-0 success to see them edge in front on goal difference, defeating Lithuania.
Their goals were more spread around with eight different scorers, Emil Witczak, Franciszek Juszczak and Maciej Rymer getting two each.
Tuesday sees Croatia play Italy (14.30 CEST), Ireland take on Lithuania (16.45) and Poland up against Ukraine (19.00).
** Click here for further stats and details about the players and the tournament
