Manulla make women's league history
Manulla, Mayo Women's League Premier Division winners 2024.
Manulla made history last Friday evening in Carramore as goals from Lauren McLellan and captain Tracey Hall won the Blues a fifth consecutive Premier Division title, and a ninth in ten seasons.
The latest league success sees the four-in-a-row they did from 2013 to 2016, which they emulated last season. The win complete a league and cup double after retaining the Rumley Cup earlier this season, named after legendary club figure Tommy Rumley. While defeats in the Mayo Women’s Cup and Connacht Cup Finals this year will sting, on this evidence they will take some stopping if they are not to win a sixth league title on the bounce next year.
Swinford, who needed a win to force a play-off, started brightly and Beth Roache tested Manulla goalkeeper Lisa Nally early inside the penalty area but her shot was saved.
The hosts were struggling to create much in the way of chances in the opening 10 minutes but McLellan’s free kick which came off the outside of the post was a warning of what would come later in the half.
Ollie King’s side began to dominate all aspects of play as the half grew on, with Tracey Hall the orchestrator. Swinford goalkeeper Aoife Groarke did superbly to deny Hall after her shot took a wicked deflection off Sarah Rowley while Sadhbh Larkin, after being put through by Hall, saw a shot on goal intercepted by Emily Rowley.
The pressure finally told on the half hour mark. Larkin’s run was stopped after a foul by Erin Murphy, who came off the worst of the challenge, and she was shown a yellow card. McLellan made no mistake second time around as she thundered in her free-kick from over 25 yards out into the top corner.
Eager not to let their lead slip like they did against Castlebar Town a week previously in the Mayo Women’s Cup final, Manulla’s poured bodies forward. On the edge of half-time a cross from the right by Hannah Prendergast was missed by Groarke but no Manulla player was able to captialise.
Manulla did have the ball in the net six minutes into the second half after Stacey Freyne’s corner was bundled but was ruled out for handball. The league leaders were playing some champagne football from here and Larkin went close after great work by Natalie Lundy and McLellan, while the latter almost caught out Groarke with a free-kick inside her own half, her audacious effort come off the crossbar.
They got their second on 64 minutes when Freyne slipped in Hall and she guided her shot past the oncoming Groarke and into the bottom corner. Manulla’s only complaint from here was that did not score another as Hall saw one shot saved while Hannah Prendergast saw another cleared off the line.
In the move of the game, substitute Aoife Brennan lifted the ball over the Swinford backline to Hall, who in turn cheekily tried to lift it over the oncoming Groarke but her goalbound shot was cleared off the line by Amy Dunleavy. It mattered little though, as Manulla saw it out for a historic league success.
