Thompson bags hat-trick in rampant Hoops' Tallaght return

Shamrock Rovers made it two SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division wins from two as they hammered Treaty United 5-0 in their first league game at Tallaght Stadium in nine years.

The Hoops, back in the league for the first time since 2014, have built a formidable looking squad under the leadership of Collie O'Neill. On this evidence, they’re already one of the teams to beat.

Treaty worked hard throughout but they simply couldn’t live with an on-song Aine O’Gorman who pulled the strings as substitute Jaime Thompson scored a brilliant 20-minute hat-trick to add to first-half efforts from Alannah McEvoy and Aoife Kelly.

There will be tougher tests to come, not least next Saturday’s trip to reigning champions Shelbourne, but Rovers look armed with the depth, experience and quality to disrupt the top order in 2023.

O'Neill’s charges started their campaign with a dramatic victory at Sligo Rovers a week ago, while Treaty - who failed to register a single league win last season - fell to a 1-0 home loss against Bohs.

The Limerick outfit have brought in six Canadian-born players to boost their hopes this term including defender Ciara McCormack, who has been capped eight times for the Republic of Ireland.

New boss Alban Hysa has acknowledged they are building from the ground up and they made a decent start against a Rovers side laced with international quality.

The hosts bossed possession, but Treaty were organised and disciplined, holding a compact 4-5-1 shape that was hard to penetrate.

Indeed the first sniff of a chance came Treaty’s way when Kiara Kilbey charged down a sleepy Amanada Budden clearance only to see the ball spin out of play. Moments later, Kilbey’s low 20-yard effort was comfortably dealt with by the keeper, and Kilbey