The Mayo senior camogie team made the long trip to a scenic, cool but sun-drenched Cooley Kickhams GAA club to play Louth in their refixed Division 4 round one match.
The game itself appeared to be going all Mayo’s way during the first half, however a spirited fightback in the second half by the home team gave the Mayo management some concern before they ran out seven-point winners, with their last for scores to seal the win came in injury time.
The opening quarter was dominated on the score board by Mayo and led from the first minute from a free converted by Meabh Delaney. During this period Meabh would add a further three points from placed balls two of which were efforts from 45’s. Saoirse O’Brien got Mayo’s first point from play in the ninth minute and by the quarter mark they had established a 0-5 to 0-0 lead.
Louth registered their first and only score of the first half from a free in the 19th minute. Emer Delaney responded with an excellent point from play before Saoirse O’Brien crashed a ball to the Louth net leaving them 1-6 to 0-1 ahead by the 23rd minute. Mayo continued to pile on the pressure for the remainder of the half which resulted in two further points one each from Emer Delaney and wing back Brona Joyce who hit one from 45 metres out. That left the half time score as Mayo 1-8 Louth 0-01.
In reality the first half score line was probably a bit harsh on Louth as they had threatened to cause Mayo some problems throughout the opening period. The first quarter of the second half all belonged to the home team, which illustrated that the first half score line wasn’t reflective of the danger Louth could pose.
Louth management introduced some changes in the second half and this had an immediate impact. By the 11th minute Louth outscored Mayo by 1-4 to 0-00 to reduce the deficit to four points.
In the 15th minute Emer Delaney got on the end of a good move to halt the Louth resurgence to score her third point and to extend out the Mayo lead again to five points. However, the game was right back in the melting pot again when Louth scored a goal in the 23rd minute, now the margin was down to two points with seven minutes remaining.
Mayo were now struggling to get a foothold in the game and they needed something to get them going again. This came in the form of Saoirse Delaney who was sprung from the bench and made an immediate impact. In a 12-minute spell that went deep into injury time she would score four unanswered points from play to wrestle the initiative back into Mayo’s favour. Maeve Delaney then added the last score of the game to give Mayo a well-earned win away from home 1-14 to Louth’s 2-4.
The Mayo players face another journey next week end in round when the play Wicklow away.
Mayo: Aoibheann Crawley, Roisin Cassidy, Amy Mulkeen, Grainne Delaney, Aoife Doherty, Caoimhe Delaney, Brona Joyce (0-1 ), Meabh Delaney (0-1, 0-2 free, 0-2 45’s ), Rachel Lyons, Emily Kelly, Helen O’Malley, Saoirse O’Brien (1-1 ), Kate Scahill, Niamh Kennedy, Emer Delaney (0-3 ). Subs: Anna Durkan, Shauna Peoples, Megan Deeley, Aoife Quinn (for Roisin Cassidy ), Saoirse Delaney 0-4, (for Niamh Kennedy )
