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Ireland secured a place at the World Cup qualifiers as they thumped Croatia 6-0 to reach the Eurohockey Championships II semi-finals in Poland.

Captain Sean Murray put Ireland ahead in the first quarter with Shane O'Donoghue doubling their advantage before half-time.

Goals from Jeremy Duncan and Jonny McKee stretched Ireland's lead to 4-0 by the end of the third quarter.

McKee and O'Donoghue completed doubles to round off Ireland's dominant win.

Ireland went into the tournament knowing that securing a semi-finals spot would guarantee their place in the World Cup qualifiers later this year.

O'Donoghue's two strikes in Wednesday's win brought his international goals tally to 114.

The win saw Ireland comfortably through to Friday's semi-finals, with the knowledge that more precious ranking points are up for grabs.

However even if the Irish do emerge victorious from the tournament, they are likely to still find themselves behind 13th world ranked France who look set to become top seed for the World Cup qualifier.

"I think it will be difficult to go above France because of the draw against Italy by my calculations," said coach Mark Tumilty

"But with the draw for the Euro qualifiers next summer also to think of, [the points] could be important but it is not something that overly concerns me.

"We have to deal with whatever comes along and we have seen in this tournament all the teams are competitive. Each game in those qualifiers will be a big challenge but, for now, the focus is on Friday to do what we can to get to the final and a better chance of hosting the European qualifiers next summer."

Ireland's opened their campaign on Sunday with a last-gasp 2-1 win over hosts Poland before being held to a 1-1 draw by Italy on Tuesday.

Their semi-finals opponents on Friday are yet to be confirmed.