One game away from historic final appearance for Mayo

LITTLEWOODS IRELAND DIVISION 4 CAMOGIE SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW

By Stuart Tynan

Fresh from a near 40-year absence from inter-county camogie, Mayo now stand one game away from a league final as they get set to face Cavan later today at Markievicz Park, Sligo, in the Littlewoods Ireland Division 4 semi-final (throw-in at 3 p.m.)

Mayo camogie manager Jimmy Lyons has done a wonderful job in effectively putting a team together from scratch and he is delighted with the way things have gone for his young side so far.

“It was a step into the unknown (against Roscommon),” Lyons told The Connaught Telegraph. “Going up against one of the better teams at junior level so it was a great test for us. We were happy we did overall. Even though our performance petered out in the second half, we'd seen enough in the first-half to indicate we could hold our own going forward.

“We didn't know how we'd match up with the likes of Roscommon but the performance showed we could be competitive against teams of that calibre.”

They carried that level of performance into their next two league games, with convincing wins over Kildare and Louth respectively.

“We were relentless from the first minute (against Kildare). Our performance didn't dip at all. Every player played every ball, irrespective of the score. We kept adding point after point and ended up winning quite comfortably on paper, but it had been a tough game.

“We were able to introduce some more players against Louth and we got evidence of strength in depth in the squad that we weren't too sure about. I think we've had 27 players who have worn the county jersey in the league so far.”

Their opponents this weekend have returned to adult competition only recently, like Mayo, and have made a huge impact so far. They won the Nancy Murray Cup last year, which Mayo will enter later this year, before going on to reach the All-Ireland junior championship final, losing narrowly to Armagh.

“Cavan are a very good side. They came back into adult competition last year but they've really hit the ground running. They operate a really high level. It'll be a real test for us, but we feel because of what we showed so far that we'll be able to be competitive at the very least.”

Lyons confirmed his squad has a clean bill of health for their upcoming semi-final, with Rachel Lyons and Mairead Mooney recovering from shoulder injuries they picked up against Roscommon.