Dublin: Korea scored in the dying moments of the final of the Olympics qualifiers here on Sunday to beat hosts Ireland 3-2 and book a berth for the London Games later this year.
With only one spot up for grabs, the Irish led twice through goals from Peter Caruth and Timmy Cockram, but in the end it all turned out to be futile.
Caruth scored Ireland's opener in the 13th minute. The Koreans got the equaliser five minutes before half-time, thanks to a stunner from Young Nam Lee.
After the break, the Irish continued going forward and Cockram slammed in a penalty corner with less than 20 minutes to go.
Woo Hyun Ham scored five minutes later against the run of play to bring the Koreans back on level terms, and just when it looked the match will go into extra time, Nam Young Lee scored two seconds from the final hooter to earn his team the Olympics qualification.
A clearly devastated Ireland coach Revington added that the defeat was "pretty difficult to take".
"These things happen in hockey unfortunately," said the South African.
Meanwhile, in classification matches, Malaysia routed Russia 6-1 to finish third and Ukraine beat Chile 2-1 for the fifth place.
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