Character key to historic Westport success

If one word can some up this Westport team, it is character and it was never tested like it was in the second half of the Mayo ladies senior final last Sunday.

A county semi-final defeat to Burrishoole in 2022 was followed by league and championship final defeats to Knockmore last year, while Burrishoole also came from behind to beat Westport in the league semi-final last year. On previous days, Westport might have buckled but they showed heart and guts in abundance to win a first Mayo senior title “Absolutely delighted for that group of women there. They're absolutely outstanding,” said Westport manager Pop Geraghty. “They've worked tirelessly, they've had a lot of near chances and come close. Just so, so proud of every one of them, absolutely outstanding.

Looking forward now to celebrating the hard work we put in and then again looking forward to I think the six-day turnaround to Saturday again. Just immensely proud of them.

“Character is a great word for the group because we have had a few setbacks. The final last year against Knockmore didn't go the way we wanted, and the league semi-final this year against Burrishoole. We were well ahead of half-time, came back, lost it by a point.

“It was a real moment for us to reflect and really drill down into why that was happening and in fairness to the girls, we had a good long meeting. I think we got to the root cause and since then we've ground out a very tight semi-final against Burrishoole and we knew if the pressure came on, it wouldn't matter because we were ready and there was no way that we were losing that game today.” 

Westport captain Janette O’Malley said in her speech it was the longest second half of her life and midfielder Aoife Geraghty knew a reaction from the champions would come.

“We were up by five at half time and we knew what was to come in that second half. If it was ourselves down by five points, the way we came out, we knew Knockmore were going to drive at us and keep driving at us and push up and they did just that.

“It did feel long. It felt like we were in control throughout the second half but it's Knockmore. They're county champions, they weren't going to lie down easily. They got the goal and I thought with the last play, we could have gone to extra time but we're just absolutely thrilled. I'm just delighted, it's hard to put into words.” The difference in the end was two magic goals by Fionnuala McLaughlin. Her manager paid tribute to her, as well as wing-forward Aoife Kennedy.

“Fionnuala is an outstanding player and we just knew if she enjoyed herself, she'd go out and she'd dominate and she really enjoyed herself today. The workrate from everyone else around her, we've Aoife Kennedy there, she's an absolutely outstanding role model for anyone in the club.

“She wasn't starting on the team last year, wasn't really getting on and she put in huge work there on the wing. She's a trojan warrior and she allows the space there for likes of Fionnuala to capitalise and get those chances and those goals.” 

Westport also were the first winners of the Jimmy Corbett Perpetual Cup, the trophy named after a man synonymous with Carnacon and Mayo football. “Jimmy is one of those and the amount of work he's done for years and years and with Carnacon to help promote the ladies game when it wasn’t being promoted is outstanding and hopefully we've done him justice there today,” said Pop Geraghty.

Looking ahead to the provincial championship, Aoife Geraghty says Westport will ‘show up in Connacht’.

“We were just kind of taking one game at a time for us. It was all about at the start of the year getting back to the final and taking it one step further than we did last year. We want to show up in Connacht as well. I'm just looking forward to it.”