Mayo girls win national honours
Mayo, Subway SFAI Inter-League under-14 girls champions.
The Mayo under-14 girls, representing the Mayo Schoolboys/Girls and Youths AFL, were in University of Limerick on Saturday facing the Midlands League, with the Subway SFAI Inter-League Shield Title at stake.
Mayo started rather slowly and Midlands settled much quicker and took the lead early in the game after some loose play by Mayo in their defence. The young Mayo girls responded very well to going behind and dominated proceedings from that point on. Chance after chance came and went without the desired end-product during the remainder of the first half.
Into the second half and Mayo continued to dominate but that goal remained elusive. Finally, player of the match Lexi Murphy opened Mayo’s account but a resilient Midlands outfit dug in and brought the game to extra-time.
Mayo’s experience of their recent semi-final victory by extra-time certainly stood to them as their forward line suddenly clicked into gear. Further goals from Annie Fleming, Lexi Murphy and Rachel Gallagher sealed the victory on a 4-2 scoreline. This squad, coached by Mike McGeough and Dave Bristow now look forward to the Gaynor Cup in the summer and hopefully further success at inter county level.
A delighted Head of Mayo Schoolgirls Emerging Talent Programme, John Flanagan was present to witness this latest success under his watch. “First and foremost, this is brilliant for the girls involved. Our ethos always places the player left, right and centre of everything that we do. Mike, Dave and the rest of their management team have now added another Inter-League Title with this group in addition to the one they won while at under-12 level.
"They now join the pantheon of multiple National title winning management teams that we have been fortunate to have working with the girls of this county over the near two decades that I have been in charge. This squad now turns its attention to the Gaynor Cup in UL in June while three of our other squads are still in contention for Inter-League honours, the 12s, the 13s and the 15s. Our under-16s were extremely unlucky going down 2-1 to Wexford in a recent Cup Semi-Final.
"As the mandated League to which all these girls’ Clubs are affiliated, my coaches and myself will continue to carry out our roles in as professional a manner as is possible.”
