Mayo had ten points to spare over Tipperary in the opening round of the LGFA All Ireland Senior Football Championship last Saturday in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park running out 1-16 to 1-16 winners.
Their manager Michael Moyles was happy with the win but knows they will be going up a level in terms of competition in the coming weeks, saying afterwards: "The girls trained very hard after the Galway defeat, we’ve knuckled down and done a lot of work on ball retention and being patient in attack. The day tested that with the breeze but we’re happy with the result. We have to move on and step up another gear."
On Sunday Mayo will travel to Pearse Park in Longford to take on Cavan in round two of the championship with the game throwing in at 1.45pm.
Last Saturday, Lisa Cafferky scored Mayo's goal as they kickstarted their All-Ireland Senior Championship with a big victory over Tipperary. The hosts made the best of a strong wind in the first-half at MacHale Park in Castlebar, to bounce back following their Connacht final defeat against Galway last time out.
Mayo started fast and reeled off 1-3 after Tipperary’s Marie Creedon landed the opener within seconds of the throw-in. Michael Moyles’ side found the net just eight minutes in when full-forward Tara Needham slipped a beautiful hand pass into Lisa Cafferky, who calmly rolled it into the net.
Mayo continued to impress, with Sinéad Walsh and Tara Needham kicking over some lovely scores in the first half. But Emma Morrissey had just scored her second free of the afternoon when Mayo almost conceded a goal, with Creedon on target for a point instead, after a misplaced kickout.
The home side responded when Tara Needham kicked two great points before half-time while Shauna Howley added another after a lovely team move. And Tipperary spurned another good goal chance with Morrissey’s blasted effort finishing wide of the goalposts.
Facing into the wind with a 1-10 to 0-4 lead at the start of the second half, Mayo’s attack slowed. The home team hit a number of wides but retained enough possession to keep their opponents at bay.
Morrissey was still leading the charge up front for Tipperary, hitting their only point from play in the second half. And Mayo manager Moyles was able to run his bench as his team adopted a more conservative approach in the testing conditions. A late save by Lauren Fitzpatrick denied Lisa Cafferky a second goal, and a 66th finish from Niamh Martin was a minor consolation as the visitors began with a difficult defeat.
