The Republic of Ireland women's team will have expected a very difficult game this evening when the European champions Netherlands came to Tallaght Stadium.
A fantastic night for Ireland women's team that witnessed a record-breaking attendance, Colin Bell's side have good reason to believe that a hard night became a whole lot harder due to a highly questionable refereeing decision.
Having conceded an early goal after some smart Dutch play, Ireland rallied well and looked to be gaining a tentative foothold in the game.
However, when Megan Connolly was judged to have pulled down a Dutch forward, the referee signaled for a penalty. Understandable at first viewing perhaps, the replay threw up some discrepancies.
Not only did the incident appear to occur outside of Marie Houlihan's penalty area, it scarcely seemed that enough (if any) contact was made with the fouled party.
The penalty was duly converted and leaves the Ireland women's team looking at their first defeat of this World Cup qualifying campaign.
You can watch the incident below.
"Horrific decision from the referee" - Here's the incident that led to the Holland penalty. Certainly looked like the contact was outside the box. #COYGIG #IRLWNT pic.twitter.com/z9m4WFRJJ9
— eir Sport (@eirSport) April 10, 2018
They trail 2-0 at half-time.
