Shooting to become a focus during welcome break for O’Hora’s team

Given that this was a third straight league outing in as many Sundays, combined with the Mayo panel back at training since December and many involved in colleges action, manager Diane O’Hora will be glad to see a two-week break before her side’s next game.

It was tighter than many were expecting against Tipperary, and plenty of room for improvement was left from a Mayo perspective, but they dug out what could prove to be a vital two points in the National League as they moved to joint-second in Division 2 behind league leaders Donegal.

“I suppose it was such a seesaw battle in a way. Defensively the game was slow, defensively we were very strong I felt. But the decisions up front were a bit of a concern. We’d a number of wides and maybe we were taking shots that we really shouldn't have been taking.

“But it's only the third game into the league, we're in February. We're working on stuff every single week and it's going to take a little while for everything to come together and we're after winning, we're after beating Tipperary. So, I’m just kind of excited for the group really in terms of the fact that we get to identify a few other key things. We have a break now, a little bit, for two weeks.” 

All-Star nominee Sinead Walsh played no part on Sunday while O’Hora added that there were a ‘couple of niggles’ within the squad. The manager admitted she would have preferred to see more of her squad but given the close nature of the game, it was not a day to gamble.

“The game was just really, really tight to make many changes. It could be disruptive even for a moment to take your eye off of a team like Tipperary. It would have been a bit of a risk to make too many changes in case of disruption.” 

With the absence of Walsh, her clubmate Kayla Doherty stepped up to the plate with four crucial points and Diane O’Hora was pleased with her contribution, as well as praising corner-forward Maria Reilly for her work in regaining possession.

“Kayla is only out of minor, she's doing her Leaving Cert this year, so it's absolutely brilliant to be able to get her onto the pitch at all and to see what she's capable of doing. She wasn't one bit out of her depth there today. She did absolutely fantastic.

“I'd say Maria would be thinking that there's probably some [missed chances], we need to do a bit more work on our shooting, our decision making up front. But I thought Maria absolutely did smashing in terms of the amount of ball that she won. She was out in front every time. It's just that the end product just wasn't really working out for us very well today.” 

Given the low scoring nature, ball winners were crucial for Mayo and as well as the midfield duo of Aoife Geraghty and Erin Murray, the impact off the bench from Fiona McHale and Hannah Reape made a big difference in the closing stages.

“Every single time, they give you 100 percent commitment, and they work their absolute socks off. We were in great positions for taking a couple of shots there and we just didn't have the accuracy today or maybe we were trying to take them from too far range.

“But I don't mind that. I think it's great for them to give themselves an opportunity. Have a crack at it, you'll only know if you have a go.

“From their point of view, [Aoife and Erin] such great workhorses and being able to bring Fiona McHale into it then and Hannah Reape, it's brilliant. It just gives us little bit more energy there as well in the last couple of minutes,” concluded O’Hora.