WALES Women’s ambitions of reaching the Hockey World League Round 2 final were ended by a 2-0 defeat to Ireland in Kuala Lumpur.

The Irish, ranked 16th in the world, were hard pressed to keep a relentless Welsh side at bay, but two goals in quick succession shortly before half-time did the trick.

Wales, who are world-ranked 32, now meet Italy again in the third-fourth place play-off on Sunday.

Head coach Kevin Johnson was proud of the team’s performance against tough opposition.

He said: “In what was always going to be a tough assignment, I was so proud of how we played throughout the match and, despite a large difference in world ranking, we matched a strong Irish side in several areas.

“The only difference between the two sides ultimately was that Ireland took their chances very well, while we were not able to make enough quality chances with our share of possession.”

With comfortable 12-0 and 10-0 victories over Kazakhstan and Hong Kong respectively earlier in the week, Ireland were always going to be a big test for Usk’s Wales captain Abi Welsford and her side.

Yvonne O’Byrne and Anna O’Flanagan eventually found their way through the Welsh defence, scoring goals in consecutive minutes from a penalty corner and open play.

Johnson continued: “We really pushed Ireland back in the third and fourth quarters and this especially shows how competitive we are becoming and how able we are to compete at a higher level.

“We now aim to finish the tournament positively in our final classification match.”

Despite not progressing, Wales’ performances have demonstrated huge progress within the national set-up, and subsequently provides a huge boost to the squad as they vie for Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games qualification.

The next major tournament and opportunity for Wales to earn world ranking points will be in Cardiff this summer, as they take to home soil in the EuroHockey Championships Division II at Wales’ National Hockey Centre.