The sun shone, but it was raining goals in Adrian Freeman Memorial Park in Tooreen last Saturday, where the Mayo Camogie senior team booked their spot in the National Camogie League Division Four semi-finals.
After a tough opening half, Mayo put their foot to the floor in the third quarter, hitting Louth for 5-5 before the second half water break, to seal what was a comprehensive 7-14 to 1-1 win over their visitors.
After many years out of the senior inter-county game, the baby steps being taken by Mayo so far this year have been firm and steady, putting it up to Roscommon in round one before wins in their last two outings.
The only shame really is that due to the restrictions in place, the next generation of camogie players haven't been able to come to these games and see the potential future pathways for themselves to aspire to. The same pity applies for the families of the players who have not been able to get in to see their daughters and sisters don the green and red so far this season. They have however been able to keep an eye on the games thanks to the fantastic streaming of Mayo's games to date online.
At least, none of this stopped a good handful of young girls making their way to the hill in a field at the back of the pitch to watch the current crop of senior players do their stuff in last weekend's game.
History lessons
While camogie has been in the wilderness for a long time in Mayo on the inter-county scene, there is a rich history of the game in the county, with Mayo making it to the All Ireland senior final in 1959. The 2021 version of that team got to draw on some of that legacy in the lead-up to their meeting with Louth last weekend.
They had a special visitor at one of their training sessions in the build-up when Josie Mulligan (nee Ruane ) who captained that Mayo team in 1959, stopped in to see how things were going for them. Josie scored the winning point in the All Ireland senior semi-final replay in 1959 against Waterford to send Mayo into the final - she played with distinction for Mayo for 20 years from 1953 to 1973.
Having Josie come along was a great boost to the team, current manager Jimmy Lyons said after their win over Louth: "She is a fantastic woman all together, she is 82 and looks like a woman in her 50s.
"She looks like she could still go out and play corner back. She was out there swinging the hurl and spoke so enthusiastically, she talked so vividly about 1959 and how she loved playing camogie and the whole thing, with some funny stories.
"To make that connection, even though we are only starting off after a number of years of not being at this level - there is a fantastic tradition of camogie in Mayo - and to have played in a senior final, is just incredible really. I know they were beaten well in the final, but to beat Galway and Waterford to get there was fantastic."
In bonus territory
Making it to the league semi-final is bonus territory for the team, said Lyons after the game last weekend: "It is bonus territory here, we knew in our section of the league we were up against two teams who are above us really in terms of championship (Roscommon and Kildare ); so what we were targeting at the start was this game against Louth and hoping to win that. Now we are into a semi-final against a good team in Cavan, which will be a real test but it is great to be there."
The progress the team has made in such a short time is something that has also been very pleasing and brought a great feel-good nature to it all, the Aghamore man said: "It is very pleasing, we have the advantage that we have just three clubs for a start and most of the players would be from Na Brideoga because they are at a more advanced stage in their development of a team, but then as you can see, we integrate three or four other players and other players coming off the bench.
"Everyone got an opportunity to be part of the squad, there is a feel-good factor there - everybody feels they are part of this and when you see players getting brought on and being given a chance to show what they can do, it comes from the players themselves, they are so enthusiastic, so positive and so focused on what is required."
A team game
Despite having a big win on the scoreboard last weekend, it wasn't that easy for Mayo for long periods of the game, Lyons told the Mayo Advertiser: "I'm glad the way it panned out in the end, it was tight early on - because Louth obviously didn't just come down to fulfill the fixture, they came down with their pride shaken by the couple of bad defeats in the first two games and they really put in a very big defensive effort.
"But I suppose they weren't getting scores and it was inevitable almost that the defensive effort would peter out because in the conditions today it was hard to sustain and that's what happened at the end, their legs just went."
"We were very clinical in front of goal; Lisa Scahill (4-2 ) in particular, when she saw sight of goal, it became obvious there was only going to be one conclusion - we know that she has that in her because she is a fantastic striker and has a great eye for it; when she sees goal she goes for it and is very direct - it was great to see her capitalise on what her strengths are."
The last two games have seen Lyons able to give a large number of game times and he hopes that it will stand to them going down the track later this season. "Same as last week when we brought on players, we kept our shape very well - the players are very disciplined, all members of the squad, they all know what they have to do when they go on, and that will always stand to us on days like today; even in the first half when things were tough, they kept doing their own job, keeping the shape and the structure. If you keep doing that and are good enough, you will win through in the end, it is great to see the girls coming on."
There was also the added bonus of team captain Helen O'Malley getting her first game time in the league - having missed the first two games with injury. "We got our captain Helen O'Malley on who was out for a few weeks with a broken finger, we didn't think she would be playing today, but she came down and for a player who hasn't played for the last three weeks, that was her first outing, and she looked good."
