Shelbourne continued their good away form, by beating Galway 2-0 at Eamonn Deacy Park, thanks to goals from Jemma Quinn and Christie Gray.

The Red Pandas closed the gap at the top of the table to just three points after Shamrock Rovers played out a goalless draw with Bohemians earlier in the day, with Peamount United set to play later on this evening.

This game took a while to get going, perhaps the tropical heat and the dray pitch played its part in keeping the pace to a minimum. It was the home side who had the majority of the possession in the opening 15 minutes, although most of it was in their own half.

Gemma McGuinness had the game’s first shot on target in the 12th minute, but it did not trouble Courtney Maguire in the Shelbourne goal.

Both keepers then made a comfortable save each before against the run of play the Red Pandas opened the scoring. Megan Smyth-Lynch squared a low ball across the six-yard box and Jemma Quinn tucked the ball away past the outstretched Jessica Berlin to put Shelbourne 1-0 up.

Just two minutes later Christie Grey controlled the box in the box and smashed an unstoppable shot in off the crossbar to make it 2-0 to the visitors.

The home side seemed shell-shocked at the quick-fire salvo and took a few minutes to settle back into the game.

Just after the cooling break around the half-hour mark Galway made their first change of the match, with Emma Duffy replacing Amy Madden. Madden had looked lively in the early minutes of the first half, but Phil Trill opted to bring on some fresh legs to help his side get back into it.

After the restart, it was Galway that attempted to dictate the tempo of the game, although it was the away side that had the best of the attacks.

Quinn looked to add to her earlier goal when she stole the ball from a Tribeswomen defender drove toward the box and fired a firmly struck shot just inches over the bar.

Unfortunately for her and the North Dublin outfit, she had to come off after picking up an injury around the hour mark.

The heat was definitely having an effect on the match, sapping the energy of both sides, who countered by bringing on several substitutes, however, those subs failed to impact the tie in any meaningful way.

Shelbourne were able to see the game out without giving away too many chances and they made it five wins from their six away matches this season as they now for the time being go just three points behind Shamrock Rovers and Peamount United in the table.