Ireland complete double over-time win over England teams at Euros

In England’s double-header with Ireland in the 2026 European Box Lacrosse Championships Group Stage on Tuesday, both teams fell to agonising 10-9 sudden-death over-time defeats.

First up, England men, in their final Red Group game, made a remarkable comeback from 9-4 down in the third quarter to tie the game at 9-9 with seconds left to play in normal time, before falling to a thunderbolt from Matt Duncan in over-time.

It was a slow start for England, who found themselves two goals down after just over two minutes but they rallied well to get back on level terms.

Despite only five minutes into the game, this proved to be a high point as Ireland hit seven more during the first, second, and opening portion of the third quarters with England’s only response being a single goal courtesy of Tom Roper.

A timeout midway through the third was to be the turning point for England who finally clicked into gear and scored six goals without reply, including a Jack Bucknell strike four seconds from time to take the game into over-time.

The momentum was with England but after losing the over-time face-off, Ireland powered forward and fired home the winner to leave England third in the group with one win and two over-time defeats.

They’ll take on Belgium in a play-in game later today with a spot in the quarter-finals up for grabs.

Later in the day, in their fourth of six Group Stage matches, England women, looking to bounce back from defeat against Israel on Sunday, first made up ground after being 6-3 down, then scored a late equaliser to send the game into over-time, before eventually losing by the same 10-9 scoreline.

England were able to keep pace with Ireland early on with the first quarter ending 1-1 but a stronger second from the opposition saw the Lionesses 6-4 down and with work to do in the second half.

A three goal shut-out in the third quarter thanks to finishes from Iandra Lamplugh, Ellie Racle, and Laura Beaman put England a goal ahead and in an excellent position heading into the final 15 minutes.

But in box lacrosse you can never drop your guard and England were heading for a 9-8 defeat until Lauren Lewis stepped up with a minute to go and fired home the equaliser.

As in the men’s game, it felt as though the momentum was with England heading into the over-time period and the first possession went their way.

But, unable to score, possession switched to Ireland who hit the winner through Hillary Grehan to cap off a frustrating night for the England teams.

England Women will now fight against hosts Czechia in their penultimate Group Stage match later today.

Watch every minute of every England game live on YouTube HERE.

England Men Scorers | Jack Bucknell (2G, 2A), Michael Blaymires (1G, 3A), Tom Roper (3G), Ollie Allsop (2G), Zack Gignac (2A), Jack Robinson (1G), Tom Hallam (1A), Will Prescott (1A).

England Women Scorers | Ellie Racle (3G, 1A), Torz Anderson (4A), Rosie Bathurst (4A), Laura Beaman (2G, 1A), Iandra Lamplugh (2G), Lauren Lewis (1G, 1A), Karma Kabbani (1G), Leah Catton (1A), Katie Greenwood (1A).

Next Up

30/06 | England v Belgium | 18:00 (UK) | Men
30/06 | England v Czechia | 19:00 (UK) | Women