Ireland's men's hockey team were denied a 2020 Olympics spot after a controversial penalty stroke decision in the last few seconds cost them a win over Canada over the weekend.
The Irish side had led 5-3 from the first leg on Saturday, but were beaten 3-1 in the second game after a bizarre call in the dying seconds of the game sent it in to overtime.
Ireland veteran Jonathan Bell said of the penalty controversy: "The video umpire should hang his head in shame, it’s a terrible, terrible call; a decision like that is just not acceptable.”
Mark Tumilty's side believed that they had won the tie before the very last second when Canada appeared to have run the ball off the end of play.
The hosts made the call for a video review that seemed like a desperation decision, but video umpire Diego Barbas decided that Lee Cole’s attempted tackle was punishable by a penalty stroke.
Scott Tupper converted handily to make the score 3-1 on the day and 6-6 on aggregate which sent the tie to penalties, which Ireland lost.
The Irish have now missed out on going to what would have been a second consecutive Olympic Games next year.
If you haven't already, be sure to like our Irish Mirror Sport and Irish Mirror GAA pages on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
