Mayo’s moment of reckoning with Rebel girls
Aoife Geraghty in pursuit of Kerry captain Anna Galvin during Mayo's opening round loss in the LGFA All-Ireland Senior Championship.
Two years ago Mayo reached the semi-finals of the LGFA All-Ireland Senior Championship where they lost by five points to Kerry on the neutral turf of Thurles. When they lined out against the same opposition last Saturday week they did so with twelve changes to the starting team, with most, if not all of the changes in personnel due to the decisions of players not to commit to Liam McHale’s squad. That Mayo, in Tralee, only lost by six points to Kerry, who are now All-Ireland champions, was probably something of an achievement then – not that you’d have detected that from McHale after the game.
“I can’t figure out how we can’t get seven or eight shots on goal in the second-half. Even if we kicked them wide, we’re not just creating those chances,” bemoaned the manager having watched his side score just one point with the breeze at their backs, after they had trailed Kerry by only one point at half-time.
A big part of the problem is that Mayo have been stripped of the attacking capabilities of the Cafferky sisters, Lisa and Sinead, Rachel Kearns, Shauna Howley, Deirdre Doherty, Maria Cannon, Fiona McHale and Tara Needham, whose twin sister Ciara, Éilis Ronayne and Clodagh McManamon are notable absentees from the defence. Nor has Australia returned any of the considerable Mayo talent it has gained over the past five or so years. And to be fair to Liam McHale, you’ve rarely heard him complain about any of it.
His first season in charge, like this year, saw Mayo lose their away game of the All-Ireland Championship (against Dublin) but recover to win their home game (against Kildare) and advance to the quarter-finals. The same opportunity presents itself next Sunday when they welcome Cork to Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar for a winner-goes-through battle. The loser enters the relegation playoffs.
As a reference, the six points that separated Kerry and Mayo in Austin Stack Park is what separated Kerry and Cork when they met in this year’s Munster Championship while only last Saturday, when they met again in Group 2 of the All-Ireland Series, Kerry were still far too strong, winning by 5-7 to 2-9, with both those games having taken place on Rebel soil. So on the face it, this upcoming clash of Mayo and Cork would look to have the potential of being quite a close game, particularly if midfielder Aoife Geraghty is deemed fit to start for Mayo, having returned from a long injury layoff to appear for the second-half against the Kingdom.
The Leesiders were also soundly beaten by Waterford in their provincial championship, with the Deise girls having nine points to spare, but what also has to be factored into the equation with regards to next Saturday’s showdown is that Mayo and Cork this year travelled in very different directions in the National League. The latter earned promotion from Division Two by winning six from seven games (they were beaten only by the eventual champions Galway) whereas Mayo were relegated from Division One after losing six from seven games. Factor in championship defeats to Galway (two) and Kerry, and it’s two wins from eleven competitive matches for the Green and Red in 2025. And yet all that would quickly be forgotten should they turn up one big performance in front of their home fans and beat Cork to the precious last eight spot; Kerry will win Group 2 regardless of Saturday’s result, having already beaten Mayo and Cork on consecutive weekends.
In some respects, Cork’s issue against Kerry last Saturday was the same as Mayo’s seven days earlier, only magnified, as Joe Carroll’s side was outscored in the second-half by thirteen points, 4-4 to 0-3, in their home ground of Páirc Uí Chaoimh. To rub salt into the wound, the Reds had led 2-6 to 1-3 at half-time, albeit the breeze had been at their backs.
Niamh Ní Chonchúir had got Kerry off to the best possible start when smashing the ball to the net after two minutes but Cork were the dominant side of the first-half, with Áine O’Sullivan and Katie Quirke each replying with goals by the fifteenth minute which would help push their side 2-6 to 1-1 ahead.
Kerry got the early second-half goal they craved when a fine turnover from Caoimhe Evans enabled Danielle O’Leary to pick out Siofra O’Shea who finished to the net. O’Shea and O’Leary struck for 2-4 and 1-2 respectively on the day, O’Shea scoring her second goal in the 38th minute after an exchange of passes with O’Leary who together with full-forward Rachel Dwyer would add Kerry’s fourth and fifth majors.
No more than Mayo, Cork are a county under transition, with only four of the team that contested their last All-Ireland final in 2020 – Shauna Kelly, Máire O’Callaghan, Hannah Looney and the aforementioned Áine O’Sullivan – on the field against Kerry last weekend, and no survivors at all of the Cork team that won a sixth All-Ireland title in-a-row back in 2016. But Carroll’s side does pack a fair amount of strength around the middle, with O’Callaghan partnered at centre-field by Aoife Healy who along with centre-forward Laura O’Mahony were both on the scoresheet against the Kingdom, hence the reason why Mayo would love to see their Westport powerhouse, Aoife Geraghty, togged for the throw-in.
Another potential inclusion for Mayo is Annie Gough who has had her own injury problems (knee) but who did come off the bench in Tralee and should be all the better for another two weeks’ work on the training ground. Mayo could badly do with the MacHale Rovers ace relieving her clubmate Sinead Walsh of some of the scoring burden, while Liam McHale has also spoke at length about how his attackers need to react more quickly and offer greater support to full-forward Clodagh Keane, who has shown herself to be a ball-winning full-forward.
The drive which is offered from deep by players like Keane’s Knockmore clubmate Hannah Reape, team captain Danielle Caldwell, Lucy Wallace and Saoirse Lally, will be crucial if Mayo are to pip Cork to second place in the group. So too will be playing to something close to their maximum for two halves and not just one.
“It’s been happening all year, play well in the first-half but don’t get going at all in the second-half,” admitted Liam McHale.
“We’re asking too much off Sinead (Walsh), we’re getting the ball into Clodagh but she has no support off the shoulder. Things that we have been working on and hoping will come, will need to come against Cork.”
