Two goals from Lisa Cafferky secured a first victory for Mayo in this year’s LIDL Ladies National Football League as they held out for a one-point victory over Connacht rivals Galway in Duggan Park, Ballinasloe.
After leading by four points entering the final 10 minutes, Liam McHale’s charges had to resist a late fightback from the hosts who kicked three points through two Roisin Leonard frees and Ailbhe Davoren.
Leonard stepped up again in the final play with a late free which would have secured a share of the spoils but her effort drifted to the left and wide as Galway fell to a second defeat.
Like they did in their opening game against Cork, Galway opened with an early Aoife O’Rourke free but didn’t score again until the quarter hour as two Maria Cannon placed balls had the visitors 0-2 to 0-1 up.
The Tribeswomen created two goal opportunities with Ciara McCarthy and O’Rourke denied. But Mayo were dealt a blow on 14 minutes when Aoife Geraghty was sin-binned for a foul on Aoife Ni Cheallaigh. Galway took advantage with three points through two O’Rourke frees and one from McCarthy.
After winning a free on 22 minutes, Tara Needham’s superb through ball was won by Cafferky who got inside and shot to the net. That made it 1-2 to 0-4 and Mayo added another score two minutes later through Sinead Walsh. But O’Rourke reduced the deficit to 1-3 to 0-5 by half-time.
Galway came close to a goal only for O’Rourke’s shot to be stopped on the line after the restart. Leonard levelled from a 36th minute free but Cafferky’s point from play six minutes later restored Mayo’s one-point lead.
Substitute Linda Booth made it 0-7 to 1-4 on 45 minutes but the game’s critical moment came in Galway’s next attack as Jenna Mortimer and Ciara Needham helped Cafferky finish off her second goal.
Fionnuala McLaughlin added a point to make it 2-5 to 0-7 on 50 minutes but Mayo had to hold off their opponents’ momentum for the remainder even if Tara Needham nearly got a third goal only for a fine save from Galway keeper Dearbhla Gower.
Scorers:
Mayo: L Cafferky 2-1, M Cannon 0-2 (2f ), S Walsh 0-1, F McLaughlin 0-1.
Galway: A O’Rourke 0-4 (3f ), R Leonard 0-3 (3f ), C McCarthy 0-1, L Booth 0-1, A Davoren 0-1.
MAYO: L Reid; L Wallace, N O’Malley, S Lally; K Sullivan, D Caldwell, J Mortimer; A Geraghty, H Reape; F McLaughlin, S Walsh, M Cannon; T Needham, F McHale, L Cafferky. Subs: A Gough for Wallace (ht ), E Reape for Sullivan (ht ), E Needham for McHale (46 ), A Fitzpatrick for Reape (51 ), N Mooney for T Needham (59 ).
GALWAY: D Gower; M Jordan, S Ni Loingsigh, E Gavin; K Geraghty, C Trill, A Ni Cheallaigh; M Glynn, L Coen; M Walsh, A Davoren, S Hynes; C McCarthy, A O’Rourke, A Molloy. Subs: R Leonard for McCarthy (ht ), E Reaney for Gavin (42 ), L Booth for Walsh (42 ), E O’Riordan for Molloy (47 ), C Cleary for Hynes (51 ), A Hynes for Geraghty (59 ).
Referee: Kevin Phelan (Laois )
