Peamount suffer agonising loss to Shelbourne in final minute of WNL classic
By Daire Walsh
Champions Peamount United dropped down to second place in the Women’s National League table after late drama at Tolka Park this afternoon saw them losing out 4-3 to Shelbourne in a Dublin derby thriller.
Despite trailing for the vast majority of the contest, Peamount looked set to maintain their unbeaten run in this year’s competition when Eleanor Ryan-Doyle’s second of the day brought them back on level terms.
However, there is rarely a dull moment in this league and Noelle Murray found the net on 95 minutes to seal a potentially-crucial success for the north Dubliners.
As a consequence of this result, Peamount are now three points adrift of their Metropolitan rivals – albeit with a game in hand.
Whereas the hosts secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Cork City at the same venue seven days ago, Peamount were returning to league action following a month-long absence.
Shels’ extra sharpness told during the early exchanges as they moved two goals clear inside the opening 10 minutes with a double from recent Republic of Ireland senior debutant Saoirse Noonan.
This was a significant shock to the system for James O’Callaghan’s charges, but a successful penalty by Lucan native Ryan-Doyle left them a single goal in arrears (2-1) at the break.
When Emily Whelan shook the Peamount net in confident style 14 minutes after the resumption, it looked like Shels were certainties to come away with maximum points.
That was before Aine O’Gorman offered Peas renewed hope with a goal inside the final-quarter and a sharing of the spoils was on the cards when Ryan-Doyle doubled her tally in stoppage-time.
Yet, there was time for one final twist. When the ball broke to Murray inside the area at a left-hand angle, she kept her composure to loft the ball beyond the reach of Niamh Reid-Burke and finally settle an edge-of-the-seat showdown.