England and Scotland finished their women’s EuroHockey Championship campaigns on a high to end in fifth and sixth respectively.

Darcy Bourne’s goal early in the second half saw England win 2-1 over Ireland in a highly competitive battle. Tessa Howard was credited with the first goal when England produced an excellent move up the centre; she was clean through and attempted to cross to the back post but it took a heavy defensive touch into the goal.

Katie Mullan equalised with a lovely piece of trickery before chipping the ball over Sabbie Heesh but the game was settled when Bourne picked up a loose ball with the goalkeeper out of position. She calmly slotted her backhand shot into the unguarded goal.

Scotland followed up with a 2-0 win over France to earn their best finish since 2015 courtesy of two penalty corner goals.

Sarah Robertson crashed in the first in the second half from a rebound at the injector’s spot and then Amy Costello’s powerful push clipped off the number one runner.

For France, it meant their first appearance in 20 years ended in a seventh place return.