Peamount hold table-toppers Galway in stalemate

League leaders Galway dropped their first points of the season as the pretenders to the throne and reigning Champions were forced to settle for a point in a hotly contested clash at a chilly PRL Park.

Despite being down a host of bodies James O'Callaghan's side, six points behind the flying visitors at kick-off, cleverly altered their set up from their usual 4-2-3-1, opting for a three at the back that saw the likes of skipper Karen Duggan dropping into the heart of the defence, as well as hard working striker Ellen Dolan starting in the middle of the park.

The visitors, boasting the league's top two scorers in Julie-Ann Russell and Jenna Slattery, looked comfortable in possession early as both sides cancelled each other out. Both keepers remained untested in the first half, although Irish International Erin McLoughlin flashed a shot across goal having shown great pace to get in behind.

In a tense affair, Lynsey McKey went close next for the visitors, smashing her shot from the right hand side of the area that narrowly missed the far top corner.

And just before the break Jetta Berrill, having been slipped through by McLoughlin down the right, burst into the area and looked in on goal but shot just past the near post.

The second half was a slightly more open affair, with the sense that just one goal might be enough for either side.

Just after the hour mark Irish U-19 International Freya Healy raced clear on goal - latching onto Avril Brierly’s clever flick - but was brilliantly denied by Canadian centre back Jamie Erickson as she was about to pull the trigger inside the box. And from the resulting short corner Healy turned well before smashing straight at the commanding Jessica Berlin.

The game began to open with both teams