Lee cole

FIH Hockey Pro League: The Netherlands men got the second mini-tournament of the FIH Hockey Pro League ioff to a perfect start with an emphatic 5-1 victory over newcomers Ireland at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday.

Floris Wortelboer celebrated his 100th cap for the Netherlands in a hard-fought 5-1 win over Ireland. The Dutch stamped their authority on the match early, pressing high and applying immense pressure on the Irish defence.

Tjep Hoedemakers opened the scoring off a short corner variation in the 12th minute, deflecting a rocketed pass over the postman’s head from a metre wide of goal. Jorrit Croon made it two in the 21st minute, swatting in a rebound off Jamie Carr’s mask after Joep de Mol had opened up the defence with great acceleration along the baseline.