Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
Peamount United v Raheny United
- Extratime Team
- Sun, Mar 16 2014
PEAMOUNT United and Raheny United will clash in arguably the key game of the Bus Éireann Women's National League season at Greenogue this Sunday afternoon.
Inaugural champions Peamount lost their crown to their rivals from north Dublin last season and it's Raheny who have the upper hand this term having beaten the Peas away 3-0 in September.
When the sides last met in December Peamount led 2-0 but then conceded two goals to leave Morton Stadium with just a share of the spoils.
Peas boss Eileen Gleeson knows its victory or bust for her side. She said: "It is a must-win for us. We can't afford to drop a point.
"When we look back on the game in December we were 2-0 up and missed a couple of chances. We weren't pleased with our defending for their first goal in particular that day so we have to make up for that lost opportunity this time around."
Both sides had several players on international duty this week - Peamount had nine players with the senior squad and the U19s while Raheny had four with the seniors and one with the U19s.
Irish women's football received a massive boost with Sue Ronan's senior squad recording a string of impressive results against teams all ranked higher than Ireland at the Cyprus Cup while Dave Connell's U19s drew with England and Denmark and beat Sweden in La Manga.
"Having so many players away in the lead up to the biggest games of the season is not ideal preparation for us. The girls get a lot of game time which is great in one sense but it's not ideal for us either," she added.
"Thankfully nobody came back with a knock. That is always a concern when the international team goes away. Dora Gorman is back which is a plus so Sara Lawlor is our only absentee."
Raheny boss Casey McQuillan welcomes back Noelle Murray from suspension. Katie McCabe is out for the rest of the campaign while Clare Shine had an injury scare in midweek but has been passed fit.
"It will be unusual for some the players to go from playing for Ireland together to now facing each other in a club game but the players will have to lose the friendships for 90 minutes," said McQuillan.
"There's a healthy rivalry between the two clubs. I think all of the incentive is with Peamount - they have everything to play for. A win for them puts momentum in favour.
"We'll concentrate on what's within our circle. Peamount have quality strikers in Stephanie Roche and Aine O'Gorman up front. They have quality all over their squad but we'll bring our game to them.
"It'll be more like a cup final than a league game."
