McHale: ‘We’ll keep trying until the bitter end’

For all that has been talked about the exodus of players and injuries that have hit Mayo hard this year, Lady Luck is another that manager Liam McHale will want to make a swift recovery. Without a win, or a point for that matter, after five league games, anything less than victories in their last two games, starting with Kildare in three weeks’ time, and the Mayo ladies will be playing Division 2 football in 2026.

After an unfortunate goal conceded the previous week against Armagh, Mayo were left to rue their misfortune again on Sunday last through the concession of two second-half goals.

“The goals, Armagh got a flukey goal when they went for a point, and Kerry get two this week. Teams of that calibre don’t need that sort of luck and we can’t seem to get a play like that,” bemoaned Liam McHale after his side’s loss in Swinford.

“I liked the first-half, made some mistakes and gave away frees they scored from but other than that, we were happy our game-plan worked well.

“The second-half, they brought on two or three All-Star calibre players, upped the ante. We had some good offensive opportunities but took the wrong option and rushed it. They counter and cause problems. If we didn’t concede the goals, going 8-4 down into the last five minutes, you have a chance, but the goals were killers. Our heads went down a little bit.” 

There were positives for Mayo to take nonetheless, with last year’s minors Kayla Doherty and Bree Hession continuing to enhance their reputations with strong performances, and McHale assured that his side will battle on.

“You can see Kayla is growing. Bree is getting better. Milly (Sheridan) is improving and Sisi (Saoirse Delaney) is coming back after her injury. You can see the effort they’re putting in. The attitude is great. We’re nought from five in the league and we’ve taken some heavy beatings, it’s not an easy place to be but all you can do is fight, keep trying to get better and learn as fast as we can.” 

Even with wins in their final games against Kildare and Waterford, the deck is stacked against Mayo, who may also need other results to go in their favour. However, McHale expects Aoife Geraghty, Sinead Walsh and Milly Sheridan will all be available after missing the Kerry defeat due to injury, and he hopes the three-week break will allow his players to come back rested and ready for the run-in.

“We could do with a bit of a rest because they’ve shouldered a major load these past two months. We’re Mayo people, we’ll keep trying until the bitter end, we’ll try and win the last two games for sure.

“Kildare have got some notable wins, Waterford have been very competitive, probably more competitive than we’ve been in some games. They’re two tough games but like today against Kerry, two great games to get at this time of year,” he concluded.