Many positives in spirited Mayo women's interleague cup debut

A spirited Mayo Women's League side came out the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline in their Angela Hearst Interleague Cup debut in Dublin this afternoon (Saturday).

The first half in particular was an all action affair as Mayo more than held their own against the reigning champions, Eastern Women's League, at Irishtown Stadium.

Tracey Hall tested the home 'keeper as early as the fifth minute, with Louise Dowling just wide a quarter of an hour later.

Mayo fell a goal behind from a counter-attack on 26 minutes, but responded instantly with a Niamh Flannery shot hitting the crossbar with the 'keeper beaten.

Chipping away up front, and with the defence in superb form in a hard-hitting game, the breakthrough came just before the break when Hall finished off an exquisite through ball from her former clubmate Jess Nolan.

The same combo resulted in the EWFL 'keeper having to pull off a great save early in the second half but the home side put away two quick goals to lead 3-1 with 52 minutes played.

Mayo found the going tougher in this half, with goalkeeper Aoife Groarke pulling off some fine saves.

But they were by no means without chances, Hall just off target with 10 minutes left to play, Louise Dowling with two efforts that just went wide - one a block down from the kick-out, and Anna Tuohy just over on 89 minutes as EWFL added gloss to the scoreline with an 87th minute strike.

The result didn't go Mayo's way but they will build on the positives from this game and of those, there were many on a historic day for the league.

Mayo: Aoife Groarke, Amy Dowling, Stacey Freyne, Amy Dunleavy, Natalie Lundy, Anna Tuohy, Stephanie Loughney, Tracey Hall, Louise Dowling, Niamh Flannery, Jessica Nolan.

Subs used: Alison Long, Beth Roache, Lauren McLellan.