Ireland 2 Scotland 1

Aine Connery’s hotly contested effort saw Ireland win their second test match in succession against Scotland at Grange Road, guaranteeing a series victory.

Deirdre Duke's lovely touch to the roof of the net from Megan Frazer's slap shot put Ireland a goal up at half-time but Scotland were back on terms when Nikki Kidd potted a low drag-flick 12 minutes from the end.

Within two minutes, though, Ireland had their winner.

Anna O’Flanagan’s cross from the right wreaked havoc with Connery on the end of it. She did not get the cleanest of contacts, lifting the ball into the knee of a back-tracking defender who bundled the ball into the goal.

The Scottish bench called for it to be called dangerous but neither umpire seemed convinced and Ireland had their winner.

Early on, the tie bore many similarities to Sunday’s 1-0 win with both sides attacking at pace but recording precious few clean chances on goal.

Scottish debutante goalkeeper Rowan Sinclair made the pick of the first half saves when denying Chloe Brown's thunderous first time effort with the outside of her right boot.

At the far end, Emma Gray – winning her 100th cap, becoming the first Irish goalkeeper to reach that milestone – was less busy but coped well enough with what little she had to do.

Ireland now will look for a clean sweep in the third meeting with Scotland in Milltown on Wednesday afternoon in this challenge series, a warm-up for the start of the Olympic qualifying campaign in early 2015.

Ireland: E Gray, S McCay, M Frazer, N Carroll, A Connery, C Watkins, N Daly, H Matthews, K Mullan, A O'Flanagan, G Pinder. Subs: C Brown, N Evans, D Duke, K Dillon, A Meeke, E Beatty

Scotland: R Sinclair, E McGregor, A Brodie, S Robertson, K Marshall, R Merchant, N Kidd, S McGilveray, A Howie, N Skrastin, A Davis. Subs: K Peters, J Morris, M Morris, R Collins, A McNeill, L Campbell