Rovers reign supreme as wasteful Moy girls pay the price

Mayo LGFA Intermediate Championship Final 

MacHale Rovers 3-5 

Moy Davitts 2-4 

MacHale Rovers will be playing Mayo senior football in 2024 after coming through a physical final with Moy Davitts at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence on Saturday afternoon.

These two sides met in the Division 2 League Cup final last month, where Moy Davitts ran out 19-point winners on the day. It left the East Mayo side highly fancied going into this decider, but the unerring accuracy on that occasion for the Moysiders was absent on this occasion as they kicked twelve wides over the hour, eight of which had come before the end of the first quarter.

MacHale Rovers – the amalgamation of Crossmolina, Lahardane and Ardagh – grew in stature from there as player of the match, Annie Gough, was a force of nature in both defence and attack while up front, Kayla Doherty smashed in 3-3, with Rovers maintaining their record of scoring three goals in every game of the championship.

Moy Davitts dominated proceedings early on with a near vice-like grip of possession but they just could not find the posts, Avadh Gaughan striking the upright and Natasha Gaughan and Sandra Hall firing wide early on.

Rovers had few chances of their own but Annie Gough was able to open the scoring on five minutes while the Moysiders continued to misfire with a hattrick of wides before Natasha Gaughan settled nerves on ten minutes with her first free.

MacHale Rovers would punish the missed chances following a brilliant move down the field, with Martina Gallagher and Megan Sheridan involved in the buildup that was finished by Doherty for Rovers’ first green flag.

Doherty then pointed before her side were awarded a penalty on nineteen minutes. County star Sinead Walsh was in on goal after winning possession and as she rounded Emma Galligan, she was pulled back just as she was about to bury into the empty net. Galligan was sin-binned, the first of six players to be yellow carded in the game, and Doherty placed her penalty into the bottom corner past Lisa Reid, who stepped in goal during Galligan’s absence. Reid was Mayo’s no.2 goalkeeper this year, so no bad deputy to have.

Sinead Walsh would send over a fine point on 23 minutes to extend the gap to eight, and things got worse for Moy Davitts as captain Stephanie Loughney was also sinbinned on 28 minutes. However, Natasha Gaughan’s second free on the stroke of half-time was a much-needed tonic for Moy Davitts who faced a big challenge to overturn a 2-3 to 0-2 deficit in the second-half.

It appeared all but over a minute after the restart as Kayla Doherty’s point dropped over returned ‘keeper Galligan and into the net. Doherty would then counter another Natasha Gaughan free with her second point on 38 minutes but that would be Rovers’ final score for over a quarter of an hour as Moy Davitts brought the gap back to just three points as they hit 2-1 without reply.

Lisa Reid got the first goal following a stunning run from inside her own half to finish, and that was shortly followed by Sinead Walsh picking up a yellow to reduce Rovers in numbers. Gaughan tagged on her fourth free before sisters Tracey and Sandra Hall combined for the latter to hit a piledriver into the top corner on 49 minutes.

Both sides finished with thirteen players as Beth Roche and Lisa Reid were sin-binned for Moy Davitts, as were the Rovers duo Laoise Coyne and Sinead Kearns. But Kayla Doherty stepped up again when needed most with what was the insurance point for a memorable win.

Scorers – MacHale Rovers: Kayla Doherty 3-3 (1-0 pen), Annie Gough and Sinead Walsh 0-1 each.

Moy Davitts: Natasha Gaughan 0-4f, Lisa Reid and Sandra Hall 1-0 each.

MacHale Rovers: Charlie Reilly-Benson; Sinead Kearns, Danielle Kelly, Laoise Coyne; Ruth Queenan, Amy Murphy, Annie Gough; Emily Murray, Martina Gallagher, Sarah Gough, Shauna Maughan, Lisa Lavelle; Kayla Doherty, Megan Sheridan, Sinead Walsh.

Moy Davitts: Emma Galligan; Aine Ruane, Stephanie Loughney, Orlagh Reape; Maria Hughes, Beth Roche, Rebecca Conlon; Tracey hall, Siobhan Wilson; Sandra Hall, Lisa Reid, Sarah Carney; Avadh Gaughan, Natasha Gaughan, Orla McHale. Subs: Ava McGahon (for Roche 23), Daina Towey (for A Gaughan 38), Kate Byrne (for McHale 56).

REF: Kevin Corcoran