The Mayo ladies surrendered their 100 per cent record in the Bord Gáis Energy National Football League last weekend when they were held to a 1-14 to 2-11 draw by Fermanagh. That result itself was a bit of surprise as it was the lake county’s first point in the competition having lost their previous four games. However Mayo were also down two players during one portion of the game when both midfielder Caoilfhionn Connolly and experienced midfielder Claire Eganwere both sin-binned. Cora Staunton was once again the go to person scoring eight points for Mayo, with Yvonne Byrne chipping in with 1-1.
This Sunday Fr Mike Murphy’s team will welcome Kerry to Claremorris at 2pm in a game that could more or less secure Mayo’s place at the top of the table going into the knock out stages of the competition. Kerry are currently sitting in third place in the table behind Galway, both of them are on 12 points, one point behind Mayo. Despite having a much greater scoring difference, Kerry trail Galway on the head to head result between the two sides this season. They met in the fourth round of the league with Galway coming out on top by two points in Tuam. Mayo for their part saw off the challenge of Galway in the first round of the competition with a comprehensive 3-14 to 1-7 win. But they will not be taking Kerry lightly as the girls from the Kingdom have hit an impressive total of 16-74 in their five games so far in the league this year. Mayo will wrap up the group stages of the league in a fortnight’s time when they travel to face a Cavan side who still have a small sliver of hope of making the final four going into this weekend’s round of games. But it looks like it will be Mayo, Galway, Kerry, and Clare making the semi-final spots, with those games down for decision on Sunday April 29, with the league final down for Saturday May 12.
