McHale welcomes back key players for final
Liam McHale is looking forward to his first Connacht LGFA senior final as manager of Mayo, who are aiming to defend the title they took off Galway last year.
Mayo will travel to St Brigid’s GAA Club in Kiltoom this Sunday to begin their Connacht LGFA senior championship campaign with a Connacht final showdown against Galway.
It’s a ground McHale knows well, as he and Kevin McStay managed the club’s men’s team to the 2013 All-Ireland senior title.
The Green and Red won only a second provincial title in ten years when they convincingly defeated Galway in Castlebar last year and as well as hoping to retain the title, Mayo are also looking to earn the right of top seeds in the upcoming draw for the All-Ireland series which gets underway next month. That would place them in a group with the Munster runners-up and the fourth-best team in Leinster. The losers next Sunday will be second seeds and will end up in a group with the third-best team in Leinster as well as the runners-up of the provincial final between Dublin and Meath.
It was a largely positive first league campaign for Mayo under Liam McHale. They beat Waterford, Galway and Cork, drew with Kerry and were competitive in defeats against Dublin, Kerry and Armagh. There has been a near six-week layoff but the squad and management have been kept busy on and off the field, with many of the squad having exams in college.
While they were only able to play one challenge match (against Donegal), club fixtures has seen much of the squad in action.
“The morale looks good, a lot a smiling, a lot a joking, a lot a banter. With the cards that we were dealt with, we feel that we had a very good league campaign,” McHale told the this week. “We were very, very, very happy about the league. With all the players that we were missing, we were able to compete and a lot of young players have come through.
“We're going to have it very difficult (picking a side), which is great. We're going to have some jobs to do and that's testament to the young girls especially, because they put real pressure on the more established players that have been there for a while.”
A major boost for Mayo has been the return of Eilis Ronayne who is contention for the Connacht final. Kiltane’s Maria Reilly, Annie Gough of MacHale Rovers and Burrishoole’s Lucy Wallace are also back in the squad but the final looks to be coming around too soon for the trio.
“The likes of Eilis is a massive addition to us now. Her know-how to play the game, her intelligence, her speed and pace and her aggressiveness brings a lot to the table, so we're delighted to have the likes of her back.”
McHale added: “We’ve 35 in the panel now. We've a couple of knocks since the club matches but we're hoping they'll all be okay.”
The manager confirmed that sisters Ciara and Tara Needham are on their way back to fitness and that their cousin Emma is “getting in really good shape”.
“I think they like to go back to the club matches and to see how fit they are and see how athletic they are in comparison to their counterparts.
“It kind of leads them to believe that what we're doing, like Clive (Reilly) and Fergus (McCormack, physio) are doing a great job.
“I was at games the last two weekends and unlike the men's game, in the ladies game the county players stick out like a beacon. I think that kind of can be a confidence boost for anyone that is fighting really hard to get minutes out of it.”
Liam McHale hasn’t ruled out calling up later this year some of the minor team who have been on fire in the Connacht championship so far. With the senior team training on Wednesdays, McHale has had little chance to watch them in action but hopes to do so for the final.
“Obviously we have people at the games. You can bring in girls that are out of minor into the senior team straight away. That doesn't happen so much in the men's game.
“We saw some very good young club players as well around the place that you'd be thinking look good. The ladies game in this county seems to be going from strength to strength now.”
McHale was no stranger to the Mayo-Galway rivalry as a player, nor in management when he was alongside McStay last year and John Maughan previously. With how close it is between them, he feels the 15 on the field for each in the last 15 minutes will be just as important as who starts.
“What we're planning, and I'm sure Galway are planning, that's it’s going to be won in the last 15 minutes, so you have to be very clever who you start. Can you start 15 good players and can you finish strong, if not stronger at the end. That's what we've been trying to say to the girls. Like it's a basketball mindset that you try and keep something in reserve, you know, that you don't put all your eggs into one basket, so to speak.
“I always say to them, play the way we practice, and if we can play the way we've practiced the last six weeks, I'd be very confident that we can win because they are absolutely taking lumps off each other the last while.
“With Mayo and Galway, it doesn't matter if we're playing tiddlywinks. It's going to be competitive. They all know each other so well and all go to college with each other and play against each other and with each other. It's going to be a very good game I'd say and there's obviously a lot of stake, you want to get that Connacht medal.
“We haven't won too many in recent years. It's great that they won it last year under Michael (Moyles) and we'd be hoping to do the same and then put ourselves in a right good position to have, even though we're young, a right good cut in the championship after that.”
