Mayo marooned by second-half tidal wave
Aoife Staunton of Mayo takes on Galway's Hannah Noone.
A week to the day since the men of Louth delivered a masterclass in how to play and beat an opponent that has one extra player, the ladies of Galway delivered their own masterclass in how to use an extra player to your advantage.
The champions of Connacht were trailing Mayo by one point with only 30 seconds of the first-half left to play. The scoreline was hardly insignificant given that at the same stage of the Connacht final played earlier in the summer, Mayo were six points in arrears and came very hard at the Tribeswomen in the second-half to only go down by three points in the end.
But on Sunday, when Mayo found themselves denied the services of Hannah Reape for a 10-minute period, the bulk of it at the start of the second-half, they were made pay the heaviest of prices. Reape was sin-binned by referee Jonathan for the manner in which he stopped Nicola Ward attacking the Mayo goal in those final seconds before half-time. Olivia Divilly curled over the resulting free and by the time of Reape’s return to the field in the 40th minute of this All-Ireland quarter-final, Galway had scored 1-6 unanswered to move eight points in front. There was simply no way back from there for Mayo and with the breeze at the backs of the local ladies, they even managed to pop over a couple of two-point scores in this season of new ladies rules.
You couldn’t help but feel for the underdogs from Mayo who had gotten themselves into an excellent position, and while there was seventeen points between the teams at full-time, it didn’t feel like a true reflection of Diane O’Hora’s side’s ability.
They left a number of excellent scoring opportunities behind them throughout the game which, if converted, could have asked harder questions of the All-Ireland favourites. Not that you’d have doubted the Galway girls to come up with the answers; they were ruthlessly efficient in front of the Mayo posts and once gaining the momentum after half-time, proverbially, they never took their foot of Mayo’s throat.
They were given a helping hand mind. There was still only five points between the teams when Mayo goalkeeper Laura Brennan went short with a kickout that left Sherin El Massry under pressure. The Mayo full-back’s attempted clearance by foot was blocked down by Kate Thompson who immediately transferred the ball to Kate Slevin and she fired the ball past Brennan for Galway’s first goal, with 39 minutes on the clock. Their second was palmed into the net on 51 minutes by Thompson herself when Brennan failed to hold onto a ball lofted into the goalmouth by Galway midfielder Niamh Divilly.
Slevin was a class apart in a scoring sense, hitting 1-5 on the day, and she was followed closely by Olivia Divilly whose eight points included three frees, while Mayo, in contrast, were just far lighter in that attacking department. In fact, little could anyone have foreseen that the goal scored by Sinead Cafferky in the 22nd minute which sent the Green and Red into a 1-3 to 0-4 lead not only was Mayo’s last score of the first-half, but also their last of the entire game from open play.
Galway’s reward is to play Armagh for the right to reach this year’s All-Ireland Final and on this latest evidence, they’ll take some stopping.
Aoife Staunton had opened the scoring for Mayo with a point after just 45 seconds before the home side scored three on the bounce, with Olivia Divilly claiming two of the, one from a free, and Kate Slevin striking a glorious point off the outside of the boot.
Lisa Cafferky kept Mayo in touch with a converted free, awarded in the process of her trying to fashion a goal chance in the company of Clodagh Keane and Aoife Geraghty, but Niamh Divilly replied with an impressive point over her shoulder that left Galway 0-4 to 0-2 ahead after 16 minutes.
The Cafferky sisters combined for Sinead to pick off a point off her left boot and when Mayo won the stray kickout, Sinead Walsh headed straight for goal and offloaded to Sinead Cafferky who took a lovely hop to transfer the ball onto her left boot and she steered it beyond the reach of goalkeeper Leah O’Halloran.
Frees from Róisín Leonard and Olivia Divilly had Galway level by half-time (Mayo 1-3, Galway 0-6), the latter of those points coinciding with the crucial sinbinning of Hannah Reape.
What will have added to Mayo’s frustration is that they had actually been attacking the Galway goal moments before Reape’s foul with the potential of adding to their lead, but Fiona McHale was overturned on the opposition’s 45-metre line and Galway counterattacked at pace.
Mayo dominated possession for the opening four minutes of the second-half but Sinead Walsh dropped a shot into the arms of O’Halloran from 30 metres while Aoife Staunton should have done better from a free earned by Clodagh Keane. Eventually though, playing with the aid of the wind, the home side began to assert themselves and they hit 1-5 between the 35th and 41st minutes. Kate Thompson raised white and orange flags, Slevin struck a brace, and Olivia Divilly scored her second from play, while Kate Slevin finished the goal from close range after that breakdown of Brennan’s kickout to El Massry.
The visitors replied with two pointed frees from Staunton but could really have done with Aoife Geraghty finding the net when slipped in by Tara Needham on 44 minutes when instead, Nicola Ward managed to whip the ball out of Geraghty’s grasp just yards out from the goal.
Eva Noone brought Galway’s tally to 1-13 with an impressive effort and while Lisa Cafferky’s second pointed free of the evening kept the margin at seven points, that score, on 47 minutes, was Mayo’s last of the game while Galway, in contrast, were only getting going.
Daniel Moynihan’s team finished in impressive fashion with an unanswered 1-7. Olivia Divilly doubled her tally for the day with four more points, three of which were from play, while Slevin hit a two-pointer and Shauna Hynes came off the bench to also raise a white flag. In between all of that came Galway’s second goal, as Niamh Divilly’s shot from long range was not controlled by Laura Brennan which allowed the inrushing Thompson to flick the ball to the net.
Overall, Mayo will rue a poor second-half where the contest ran away from them, but Galway’s superiority was emphatic on the day.
Scorers - Galway: Olivia Divilly 0-0-8 (3f), Kate Slevin 1-1-3, Kate Thompson 1-1-1, Roisin Leonard (f), Niamh Divilly, Eva Noone and Shauna Hynes 0-0-1 each.
Mayo: Aoife Staunton 0-0-3 (2f), Sinead Cafferky 1-0-1 Lisa Cafferky 0-0-2f.
Galway: Leah O’Halloran; Kate Geraghty, Sarah Ní Loingsigh, Bronagh Quinn; Hannah Noone, Nicola Ward, Ellen Power; Niamh Divilly, Siobhan Divilly; Eva Noone, Kate Slevin, Kate Thompson; Leanne Coen, Roisin Leonard, Olivia Divilly. Subs: Charlene Trill and Lynsey Noone (for Power and Leonard 47), Louise Ward (for N Divilly 52), Shauna Hynes (for E Noone 54), Aoife Molloy (for H Noone 55).
Mayo: Laura Brennan; Lucy Wallace, Sherin El Massry, Isobelle Phillips; Hannah Reape, Tara Needham, Linda Hanley; Aoife Geraghty, Maria Reilly; Sinead Cafferky, Fiona McHale, Aoife Staunton; Sinead Walsh, Clodagh Keane, Lisa Cafferky. Subs: Finola Collins (for McHale 41), Meabh Delaney (for El Massry 45), Suzanne Tuohy (for Reilly 48), Kayla Doherty and Aoife Kennedy (for Keane and Hanley 52).
REF: Jonathan Murphy (Carlow)
