Rio de Janeiro: Germany reached the men’s hockey quarter-finals on Tuesday with a 3-2 win over tournament outsiders Ireland as they continued their bid for a third successive Olympic gold.

Moritz Furste scored twice for Germany and Martin Zwicker was also on target as they followed up victories over India and Canada to secure a third straight win that lifted them to the top of Group B.

Their nine points from three games guaranteed them a top-four finish in the pool, enough to book their spot in the last eight.

They are likely to face a sterner test on Friday, however, when they play the Netherlands, who are second in the world rankings and stormed to a 6-1 win over Germany in the EuroHockey Championship final last year.

Playing at their first Olympic hockey tournament since the sport made its debut at the London Games in 1908, Ireland made Germany work hard for their victory.

Ireland’s Eugene Magee had levelled the scores at 1-1 while Michael Darling grabbed a consolation with just over a minute left on the clock in the final quarter.

“It was a really tough match as you can see on the scoreboard,” Germany forward Christopher Ruhr told Reuters.

“Ireland did really well, not only offensively but also when they had the ball. We didn’t play our best game.” Ireland striker Michael Watt said his team had now played their three strongest opponents in the pool and that Germany were always going to provide a stern test.

“They’ve won the last two Olympic Games, so you know they’re a tough team,” he told reporters.

“We had a few chances to score a few goals, we didn’t take them and that cost us.” Hockey is a relatively minor sport in Ireland, but a small and raucous band of Irish fans made the trip to Brazil to support their countrymen, serenading players and locals with chants from the sun-baked stands.

Watt said he hoped Ireland’s place at the Rio Games would help develop the sport back home.

“I think it needed something like this to kick-start it,” he said. “Hopefully we get lots of kids watching, we get more kids playing, hopefully we grow the sport.”