2 seconds.

2 seconds was all it took for Ireland to miss out on making it to the Olympics for men's hockey.
Last Sunday I went to UCD to watch the qualifiers and it was all very exciting! I watched Ireland beat Ukraine by 12 goals to none! During the week I kept an eye on the results and Ireland had not lost a single match. I really wanted to go back so I decided to volunteer at the matches for Paddy's weekend. It was a great experience and the work I had to do honestly wasn't even hard. I even managed to meet the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, and I touched the Prince of Malaysia! The Qualifying Finals were on Sunday and Ireland was battling Korea for the top spot and a place in London this summer.
14 minutes in the first goal of the match was scored from the rebound off a short corner for Ireland :D Everyone in the crowds was so excited but we knew that we'd need to keep up a good fight against Korea, who from the start have been our big competitors. Korea then managed to get a goal in after 30 minutes leaving the score as 1 all for half time.
Ireland kept great possession of the ball overall, were awarded another short corner and a goal was conceded by Cockram (the tournament's top scorer). Unfortunately while the team and supporters were still on a high from Ireland's new-found lead, Korea took advantage of this and scored on the break. :(
Korea had a golden chance to get ahead minutes later, but a phenomenal Harte in goals kept their shots out. Coming close to the end of the game we had all accepted that the match would continue on into 15 mins extra time. But with just 8 seconds left on the clock Irish hearts broke. A free in to the Irish circle was given to Korea and with one slight touch off a stick the ball found itself in the back of the net. 2 seconds left on the clock. The Irish players fell to the ground. The whole stadium was silent. Even the Korean supporters there understood how we felt. It goes to show that even after 4 years of training, once your on the pitch every single second counts.
I was really proud to be Irish a supporting the team that day because they worked so hard and they were such an inspiration to all hockey players in the country. They did everyone so proud :)

Source - Irish Hockey Association