The Irish bookmaking industry suffered a €250,000 loss as The Girls in Green shocked the world and qualified for next year's World Cup finals.
Vera Pauw's side travelled to Hampden Park last night for a do-or-die play-off clash with Scotland. The hosts were seen as hot favourites, but Amber Barrett's second-half strike proved to be the difference and sent Ireland to next year's tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
Despite being 4/1 underdogs, Ireland's women received over 55% of all bets on Paddy Power's books landing them a massive payday. To make matters worse for the bookies, five astute punters placed bets on Amber Barrett to be the first goalscorer despite the Donegal striker starting on the bench.
READ MORE: Amber Barrett dedicates historic goal to Donegal explosion victims
One person in particular was so confident, that they placed €15 at odds of 16/1 on Barrett to open the scoring and took home €255 for their troubles.
A spokesperson for Paddy Power said “It was a bad result for the books but we were paying out with a smile after the Girls In Green did the business in Scotland and hopefully some of the windfall the our customers received will go some way in paying for the celebrations.”
Paddy Power currently have Ireland at 500/1 to win next year's tournament, meaning a big pay-day could be in store for punters should The Girls in Green pull off the impossible.
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