Mayo and Donegal meet in crunch encounter
Mayo face a crunch tie against Donegal today (Saturday) for a place in the LGFA All-Ireland Senior Championship quarterfinals.
It's a real winner-takes-all clash in Glenfin as both teams have already been defeated by Dublin and so a win for either would see them reach the last eight. The losers will be involved in the relegation playoffs.
The Mayo team lines out as follows: Laura Brennan; Lucy Wallace, Sherin El Massry, Meabh Delaney; Finola Collins, Lynda Hanley, Hannah Reape; Aoife Geraghty, Tara Needham; Maria Reilly, Sinead Walsh, Aoife Staunton; Lisa Cafferky, Clodagh Keane, Sinead Cafferky.
On the subs' bench are: Julia Gawalkiewicz, Kate Brennan, Kayla Doherty, Aisling Flanagan, Bree Hession, Aoife Kennedy, Ava McDonnell, Niamh Mooney, Clodagh Murphy, Isobel Phillips, Suzanne Tuohy, Charlie Reilly Benson, Kate Byrne, Ella Gallagher, Eimear Treacy.
The game, which throws in at 1 p.m., will be very tough for Mayo, yet they will be slight favourites. Having narrowly lost to Galway in the Connacht final after producing one of their best performances of the year so far, they then put it up to Dublin in round one of the All-Ireland series. Indeed, had they taken their goal chances on the day, they would have gone very close to causing an upset.
In the end, the difference between the two sides was that Dublin made the most of their goal chances while Mayo missed three or four great opportunities of raising green flags.
Reflecting on the game, Mayo manager Diane O'Hora said: “A lot could have looked different if we had put that chance away in the first few minutes. Goals win games. Our own players, myself and everyone here that knows football, has been hearing that since they were four years of age. That’s the reality. Those opportunities have got to be nailed and if they’re not, it’s something we need to work on.”
Other aspects of the team's play didn’t help their cause either, O'Hora noted. “Just the amount of ball that we were turning over in our own attacking half of the field. It was just bouncing back really quick. Dublin were attacking so quickly. It just put us on the back foot.
“You could see the lack of energy there as well at times and it wasn't that they're not trying but, you know, it’s all swings and roundabouts and if the momentum had been with us in terms of those goal opportunities in the first number of minutes, that could have changed a lot of things for the feeling within the team.”
If Mayo can make the necessary improvements in Donegal today, they have to be in with a great chance against a side that only finished in third place in the Ulster Championship. While it won’t be easy, Mayo are on an upward trend and can prevail in this game.