When these two nations last met there was a place in the Olympics at stake and on that day, Ireland dominated but couldn’t score and Spain claimed their place in Paris after a shootout.
On this occasion, both sides scored before the end of the first quarter.
Ireland deservedly took the lead in the 12th minute. A nice interchange between the Carey sisters, Niamh and Michelle, saw the latter get a shot away that was saved by Clara Perez.
Carroll followed up and showed all her camogie skills to control the ball and score, but they couldn’t hold on to the lead until the end of the quarter.
From a penalty corner, goalkeeper Elizabeth Murphy kept the ball out of the net with a back stick and Riera stepped up to convert the resulting penalty stroke.
The same player made no mistake from a corner in the second quarter to give the Spanish the lead.