Ruthless Royals ruin McHale’s first day on the job

LGFA National League Division 1 – Round 1 

Meath 2-18 

Mayo 1-15 

Anthony Hennigan at Connacht GAA Air Dome 

There was a nervous tension in the air throughout Sunday afternoon’s league opener – and for more reason than simply what was happening on the pitch. As the players of Mayo and Meath duked it out, Storm Isha was testing the fabric of the Connacht GAA Air Dome like no other weather front has since its construction in 2020.

Originally pencilled in for Ballina, quite why the game had to take place at all is deserving of an explanation; if anyone doubted the Status Red warning that had been issued for Co Mayo that same afternoon, the sight of a bent and buckled floodlight (and this was indoors, remember) being ripped from its anchor during the second-half, as the lung-like Air Dome heaved, hoed, exhaled, inhaled, moaned and groaned under the stress of the storm-force gales outside, was all the evidence needed to know the car journey home, nor the evening ahead, wasn’t going to be a pleasant one.

Oh yes, and Mayo lost.

Six points was the margin in this, Liam McHale’s first match as Mayo boss. It was a game that basically slipped away from the Green and Red in a five-minute spell early in the second quarter, when Meath’s response to falling three points behind after Maria Cannon struck a 16th minute goal, was to hit back with an uninterrupted 1-4. The goal-scorer, Meadhbh Byrne, would add a second before half-time, and Mayo forever remained playing catch-up.

“We were trying to do the right thing but we fell short at times, our decision-making wasn’t great,” said Liam McHale afterwards. “I thought we should have been a little more aggressive around the middle of the field; that we let them walk through us a little bit.” 

Cannon was Mayo’s star turn, registering 1-1 from play and a further ten points from frees, in a near flawless display by the Burrishoole ace. And there were green shoots, too, in the performances of newcomers Fionnuala McLaughlin (sister of Eoghan), Alana Fitzpatrick (granddaughter of Billy) and Jenna Mortimer (daughter of Kenneth, Liam McHale’s right-hand man). But there was no one on Mayo’s side who could rival the craft, guile and finishing power of Meath’s Emma Duggan who was a thorn in the home side’s defence from first minute until last. Six points in the first-half, four in the second, five from play, five from frees, she also pulled the Mayo defence into all kinds of uncomfortable places, which contributed to wing-back Niamh Gallogly, three points, and wing-forward Ciara Smyth, four points, careering into the open spaces to which Liam McHale referred.

The teams had gone point for point in the opening fifteen minutes, with Cannon and Duggan trading three apiece, and Tara Needham and Fiona McHale scoring Mayo’s opening points from play, with Ciara Smyth and Niamh Gallogly doing likewise for Meath.

The game tied at 0-5 each, the opening goal came off the back of a lovely offload by Mayo veteran Fiona McHale, who was operating at full-forward, to debutante Fionnuala McLaughlin who in turn slipped in Maria Cannon whose low shot took a deflection on its way into the net.

Mayo’s lead was very short-lived though, as Smyth’s second point for Meath was followed by a 19th minute goal, with Aoibhín Cleary and Megan Thynne mounting a right-wing raid that ended with Meadhbh Byrne firing home, despite a very strong hand from the unfortunate Lisa Reid between the sticks.

McHale’s charges spent the next while struggling even to pass halfway, as Emma Duggan, two frees, and Niamh Gallogly hit points to send Meath 1-9 to 1-5 clear after 23-minutes.

But just when it seemed as though Mayo had steadied the ship, with Maria Cannon, two frees, and debutante Alana Fitzpatrick scoring three of the game’s next four points, came the sucker-punch of a second Meath goal, right on the stroke of half-time. It all stemmed from a free awarded in midfield for an overcarry by back-to-back All-Star Danielle Caldwell, with Mayo far too slow in responding to a restart that saw Ella Moyles, Shelly Melia and Aoibhín Cleary attack the middle and send Byrne through to double her tally.

The Royals, who led 2-10 to 1-8 at the interval, cemented their dominance in the third quarter, despite Mayo opening with two more points by Cannon, including her first from play. Ciara Smyth, Emma Duggan, two, and full-forward Marion Farrelly all scored singles in a two-minute window, and when Duggan’s first free of the half sailed over on 43-minutes, Shane McCormack’s side were now eight points clear, 2-15 to 1-10.

Mayo would go on to raise five more white flags, all of them by Cannon with the exception of an excellent 50th-minute finish by substitute Sinead Walsh, who had been named to start. But Duggan’s tenth of the day and Smyth’s fourth preceded the tireless Gallogly appearing from defence one final time to send another goal effort whistling mere millimetres over the Mayo crossbar.

“I’m delighted with the effort. We want to play the way we practice and we definitely did that, but we made too many mistakes against a quality team,” reckoned Liam McHale who next Saturday will take his Mayo team to Ballinasloe for a Round 2 clash with fierce rivals Galway. Throw-in at Duggan Park is at 3.15pm and referee is Kevin Phelan.

The Tribeswomen commenced their campaign last Sunday too, losing in Cork by 1-6 to 0-5.

Scorers – Meath: Emma Duggan 0-10 (5f), Meadhbh Byrne 2-0, Ciara Smyth 0-4, Niamh Gallogly 0-3, Marion Farrelly 0-1.

Mayo: Maria Cannon 1-11 (0-10f), Tara Needham, Fiona McHale, Alana Fitzpatrick and Sinead Walsh 0-1 each.

Mayo: Lisa Reid; Lucy Wallace, Saoirse Lally (c), Nicola O’Malley; Kathryn Sullivan, Danielle Caldwell, Jenna Mortimer; Aoife Geraghty, Hannah Reape; Fionnuala McLaughlin, Lisa Cafferky, Maria Cannon; Tara Needham, Fiona McHale, Alana Fitzpatrick. Subs: Annie Gough (for Reape 38), Emily Reape (for Sullivan 43), Emma Needham (for McHale 46), Sinead Walsh (for T Needham 48), Caítlin Henry (for Wallace 53).

Meath: Monica McGuirk; Katie Newe, Aine Sheridan, Nicole Troy; Aoibhín Cleary, Mary Kate Lynch, Niamh Gallogly; Máire Thynne, Ella Moyles, Ciara Smyth; Meadhbh Byrne, Marion Farrelly, Emma Duggan. Subs: Tori Foster and Ailbhe Leary (for Gallogly and Byrne 56), Orlaith Mallon (for Moyles 57), Lisa Young (for Thynne 60).

REF: Gus Chapman (Sligo)