Ireland women’s team undone by poor refereeing decision

Tough on Megan Connolly.

The Ireland women's team went into their Tuesday night World Cup qualification clash with the Netherlands sharing the top spot in group three with their opponents. Colin Bell's side have impressed up to the half way point of this campaign, securing ten points in their first four games of the competition. Fresh from a last gasp 2-1 victory over Slovakia last Friday, they would have gone into this game with plenty of confidence, especially having drawn with the Netherlands in the reverse fixture in Nijmegan last November. The Dutch would arrive to Tallaght Stadium with even more confidence, however. They put seven goals past Northern Ireland last week to warm up for this one. Indeed, they picked up from where they left off in their second Irish assignment in the space of a week. The Dutch hit Ireland for two goals in a first half where the away side were dominant. The second Dutch goal came from the penalty spot but it was only after an extremely poor call from the referee. Ireland's Megan Connolly tracked back to cover the run of the Dutch attacker. Connolly appeared to lightly grab the jersey of the Dutch player, but the contact was clearly a yard or two outside the box. The Holland player lunged into the box, making a meal of the contact and the referee fell for it. https://twitter.com/eirSport/status/983773243315138560 Connolly was subsequently booked to add insult to injury. A whole host of onlookers were bemoaning the harsh nature of the decision.