By Emily Goddard

Michael D Higgins will be watching the Ireland v Canada Hockey World League Round 2 final in Dublin ©Getty ImagesHosts Ireland are set to go head to head with Canada in the final of the women's Hockey World League Round 2 in Dublin in front of the nation's President Michael D Higgins.

The two squads secured their place in the tournament's final and edged closer to Olympic qualification for Rio 2016 after securing victories in their respective semi-final matches.

Ireland earned a comfortable 7-0 win over Belarus, thanks to two goals from Nicola Evans, with Anna O'Flanagan, Megan Frazer, Naomi Carroll, Emma Smyth and Kathryn Mullan also scoring.

Canada's win against Chile was not as easy, however, after the match finished with the scores locked at 0-0.

Nine goals were scored from 12 attempts in the shoot-out, but it was Canadian goalkeeper Kaitlyn Williams who saved the day by stopping Chile's Sofia Filipek in sudden death.

Ireland and Canada will now battle it out for the crown in the final at the National Hockey Stadium at University College Dublin tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Lithuania defeated Ukraine 2-0 before Austria smashed Turkey 6-0.

Kaitlyn Williams saved the day for Canada at the Hockey World League Round 2 in Dublin ©FIH/FacebookKaitlyn Williams saved the day for Canada at the Hockey World League Round 2 in Dublin ©FIH/Facebook


As well as the finalists, the six other teams will compete tomorrow, with Ukraine facing Turkey in the seven-eighth place match, Lithuania battling Austria for fifth place and Belarus and Chile contesting the third-fourth classification match.

Belarus need a win to claim the final ticket to Olympic qualifier stage of the Hockey World League as the highest ranked third place finisher from the Round 2 tournaments.

A total of seven qualification places for the Hockey World League Semi-Finals are available from Round 2, with Italy and Uruguay having already booked their places with a top two finish at the event in Uruguay's capital Montevideo, as well as New Delhi finalists hosts India and Poland and Dublin finalists Ireland and Canada.

Spain and Belgium have also qualified as hosts of semi-final tournaments later this year.

They will be joined by the highest ranked of the third placed finishers from the three Round 2 events.

Azerbaijan are currently the highest ranked of the third place finishers, but they will have to wait for the conclusion of the event in Dublin before knowing if they have made it through.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2015: Hosts India seal women's Hockey World League semi-final spot as France claim men's honours