Paddy Brown is captain of the Ireland side in the qualifiers

Dubliner Stephen Butler put the Irish ahead from a low penalty corner strike a minute before the break.

Michael Lee levelled three minutes into the second half before Antrim's Mark Gleghorne won the game with a reverse-stick shot on 42 minutes.

The Irish, who lost 5-1 to England in Wednesday's opener, will play Belguim in their next pool game on Saturday.

Both sides were reduced to ten men following several strong tackles as the match entered its final tense period - Cork Harlequins' Mark Black was the Irish player sin-binned.

"Overall it was a pleasing performance," said Ireland coach Dave Passmore.

"There were many things which could have put us off our game plan but we stuck to the task in hand and defended well all over the pitch."

The top five of the 12 teams will go through to September's World Cup.

Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland men's team have won the gold medal at the British University Championships in Swansea after a 3-2 win over England.

The NI women's side had to settle for a bronze medal after losing 3-1 to England.