Trail behind and label a ship in Ireland? (8)

I believe the answer is:

tagalong

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'ireland?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.

'trail behind and label a ship in' is the wordplay.
'trail' becomes 'tag' (synonyms).
'behind' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'and' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and').
'label a ship' becomes 'alog' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'n' placed within 'alog' is 'along'.
'tag'+'along'='TAGALONG'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for tagalong that I've seen is " Informally, go with or accompany others".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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