Mayo win pleases ladies' manager and captain

The new Mayo ladies senior team manager, Michael Moyles, was very pleased with his team's thrilling 2-15 to 2-14 win over Galway at Elverys MacHale Park, Castlebar, to get their Division 1A league campaign off to the best possible start.

It's the first time Mayo have beaten their neighbours in almost four years.

“They stuck at the job in hand and for me the important thing was they showed great character in battling away, especially when they were six points down with just over 10 minutes remaining,” said Moyles.

He added: “It was easy to see how well they were focused out there and how delighted they were to be back playing competitive football. We started very well and played some great attacking football. The two black cards in the middle third of the game did not help us. Playing 20 minutes against a team like Galway with a player down is not easy. But when we got back to 15 versus 15 the girls got back into their stride and produced a terrific last 10 minutes to pull the game out of the fire.

“In the end they carved out a great victory and it is fantastic to get our league campaign up and running with a victory. But there is a lot of work and learning to be done over the coming weeks and we will see where it leaves us.”

The Mayo captain for the day, Eilis Ronayne from Davitts, was equally delighted with the victory and with the way her team-mates performed.

“We started very well and we were very happy to go in at half-time leading by four points,” she said. “But they came back at us in the second half and it didn’t look good for us when they went six points clear. However, the way we stuck at it was very pleasing and in the end it was great to get the win.”

Mayo showed unreal character allied to great work rate and a never-say-die attitude that ultimately earned this magnificent victory. Highly entertaining from start to finish, both sides went straight at it from the word go as the two teams looked to get their 2021 competitive campaign off to a winning start.

The home side were 1-8 to 0-7 up at half-time, Maria Reilly with the goal following Kathryn Sullivan's great pass, and were good value for it, even as they had to cope without Tamara O'Connor for 10 minutes due to a yellow card.

A Galway penalty, scored by Katie Slevin, had Galway right back in contention and they capitalised on a second sin bin for Mayo as Rachel Kearns was shown yellow. Within a minute Slevin had found the net for a second time, and the Tribeswomen went six points up with just 10 minutes remaining.

Mayo kept battling away, however, a goal from a brilliantly taken penalty by Kearns after impressive Charlestown substitute Deirdre Doherty had been hauled down put the game back in the melting pot.

Ultimately Mayo nabbed a late winner from a well taken Doherty free, and every player played her part in a richly deserved victory.

Mayo: L. Brennan; O. Conlon, K. Sullivan, T. O’Connor (0-1); E. Ronayne, Clodagh McManamon, E. Brennan; F. McHale (0-1), M. McHale (0-1); N. Kelly, S. Howley (0-6), S. Cafferkey (0-1); M. Reilly (1-0), R. Kearns (1-3), L. Cafferkey. Subs used: C. Needham, D. Doherty (0-1), G. Kelly (0-1), C. Whyte, A. Lambert.

Galway: D. Gower; S. Brennan, S. Lynch, S. Molloy; K. Geraghty, N. Ward (0-1), C. Cooney; A. Davoren, M. Glynn (0-1); O. Divilly, M. Seoighe (0-7), L. Coen; E. Noone, A. Trill (0-3), K. Slevin (2-1). Subs used: S. Divilly, J. Burke, A. Morrissey, A. McDonagh (0-1), C. Crowe.