Ireland 2-3 Argentina

Ireland hockey coach Craig Fulton said his team had "done Ireland proud" after a narrow defeat at the hands of Argentina scuppered their dreams of making the quarter-finals in Rio.

The Argentines took an early lead from a penalty corner, but Ireland responded through John Jermyn from a PC of their own in the second quarter.

Ireland were relying heavily on goalkeeper David Harte and shortly after drawing level, they trailed once more after a Gonzalo Peillat strike from another penalty corner.

The third quarter passed by in relatively uneventful fashion before Ireland launched a final-quarter assault in a bid to salvage the win they needed to progress.

With ten minutes remaining, Shane O'Donoghue rifled the ball through the legs of the Argentinian goalkeeper to fuel Irish hopes.

Sadly, the optimism was shortlived as once more Peillat scored from a short corner, thus ending any hopes Ireland had of marching on.

While they attacked gamely for the remainder of the game, it was not to be and Craig Fulton's side bow out at the group stages.

They can take consolation from their 4-2 win over Canada, as well as strong performances against India and Germany in their earlier group games.

Reflecting on the tournament, Fulton said it was a memorable experience.

“The dream of winning a medal, playing in a quarter-final is alive in every minute you play here. There’s something really big behind it,” he said.

“That’s what this tournament does; it’s like nothing else and you can’t explain it to anyone or what it is going to be like. The players have to go through it.

“Once the players leave this environment and reflect back on where they were and what was at stake, they will realise how big this was and that is a good thing. Hopefully, we will have this group back and fighting for Tokyo.

“I just hope we have raised the profile of Irish hockey, especially in Ireland, because this team has sacrificed a lot to get to this point and to perform at this level. And it is a big stage to perform on. The guys have done Ireland proud.”

Ireland: D Harte, J Jackson, R Gormley, M Watt, C Cargo, J Jermyn, S O’Donoghue, M Darling, K Good, P Gleghorne, C Harte

Subs: J Bell, A Sothern, E Magee, P Caruth, K Shimmins

Argentina: J Vivaldi, G Peillat, J Gilardi, P Ibarra, F Callioni, L Vila, I Ortiz, M Brunet, L Rossi, M Rey, M Paredes

Subs: L Rey, J Menini, J Lopez, J Saladino, A Mazzilli

Umpires: S Taylor, P Vazquez