Dublin dominate lopsided League final

A sun-kissed Parnell Park in Donnycarney – the official home of Dublin GAA – was the venue for today’s LGFA NFL Division One decider. In perfect weather for football, however, the day belonged to the reigning All-Ireland champions, Dublin, who swept aside the challenge of Mayo to win the title by a margin of eleven points.

Dublin weren’t long asserting control in today’s decider, taking a 1-3 to 0-0 lead after ten minutes, the goal a penalty expertly converted by their captain Sineád Aherne. It was midway through the half, by which time the home team were 1-5 to the good, before the Mayo girls got off the mark via a fine point by Fiona Doherty. That came just after a goal effort for the visitors was scrambled off the line by a Dublin defender.

By the half-way mark Dublin were ahead by double scores, holding a lead of 2-10 to 1-5. The Mayo goal came via a Sarah Rowe penalty just after Dublin had bagged their second major of the half.

Dublin showed much more invention and teamwork on the ball in that opening half. Moving the ball around comfortably and prising open the Mayo backline with ease, they weren’t at all flattered by their half-time lead of eight points. Peter Leahy’s charges, by contrast, were struggling to gain any kind of foothold in what already looked like a lopsided contest.

A third Dublin goal, smashed home by Noelle Healy, within minutes of the resumption effectively killed off whatever life was left in this game. From then to the finish, the tempo becoming increasingly languid, with Dublin simply in cruise control. They won by 3-15 to 1-10 at the finish.

So, once again, it’s the familiar refrain of Dublin getting the better of Mayo in a national decider. The lads are well used to it at this stage but the ladies have now gone under decisively to the Metropolitans in successive finals, having also taken a bit of a thumping from them in last year’s All-Ireland final.

But the one thing you can be sure of about this team – much like their male equivalents – is that they won’t be down for long. The focus will now quickly switch to the championship and, with it, the chance to rise once again. Hard luck girls, it just wasn’t to be today.

Thanks, by the way, to The Brother for the photos from Parnell Park. I only got back up from the west this afternoon myself – we recorded the Galway preview edition of the podcast yesterday evening in Castlebar – and so couldn’t get to today’s game.

64 thoughts on “Dublin dominate lopsided League final

  1. Hard luck to the ladies, there’ll be better days ahead surely.

  2. Hard luck to the ladies… they had a good run, disappointing for them !
    Fair point Mayo MayoMark

  3. Wj did you wear an old style 50’s jersey last year by any chance?never met you before but going by your picture in mayonews doing the podcast,i think i bumped into you at a match last year.
    Maybe im as far out as a light house.

  4. Heartstopping stuff in new york!! Cmon our mayo exiles playing. Adore Jamie Clarke! Marty Morrissey so excited-i can barely keep up!!

  5. Sean Cavanagh really hates us. How are Galway suddenly one of the big teams? They have proved nothing

  6. Sean Cavanagh thinks we’re at the end of the road and that we won’t make the Super 8. He reckons it suits the big teams of Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone….and Galway. Please!

  7. Teams are supposed to play a home, away and neutral game in the 8s…..but Dublin will get two games in CP. The panel thinks there’s an ‘element of unfairness’ about that but rationalise it by saying that other grounds wouldn’t hold the Dublin support. Funny that – do Man United, NY Giants etc play all their games at home?

    Pat McEnaney thinks the refs have mastered the black card ( ye may remember the black card…it looks like a red card but it’s coloured black). I haven’t seen one in a long long time but Pat appears to have.

  8. Is Sean Cavnagh on Rochfords payroll??. Thats what you want to be hearing a week before Galway. I agree he hates us and why wouldnt he? But he’s doing us big favours there whether he realises or not.

  9. Very small attendance of Mayo supporters in Parnell Park today. I know its hard and expensive for Mayo supporters to keep turning out but there is a fair few resident in Dublin so I would have expected to see more today. Maybe with the day we had the beach was more attractive. Dublin were a class ahead but as with the men’s game they have the huge advantage of being together for training year round. I counted 18 students on Mayo’s panel and I’m sure they are scattered all over the country in different colleges. Summertime should see most of them at home and that would make a huge difference in training and teamwork. Fair play to them for battling away when it was obvious the game was lost. Predictions that the venue would be sold out were very far off the mark with the stand not being 100% full and hardly anybody on the terraces.

  10. Spotlight, I think that some of the Munster venues [Thurles and Limerick in particular] would accommodate a Dublin crowd for a neutral game but would we Mayo people fancy another outing to Limerick? If Kildare get into the Super 8’s will Newbridge be the venue for their home games? A Dublin crowd would have some fun squeezng into that place.

  11. MayoDunphy, I love your comment – “Is Sean Cavanagh on Rochfords payroll?” It really make me smile!

  12. Poor Seán Cavanagh has really taken all the beatings by Mayo throughout his career to heart, particularly the last one when Leeroy didn’t let him out of his pocket until he got back to Westport and gave him a few Euro to take the bus back to Moy!! My God he hates us????.

  13. Have to say Cavanagh is an awful pundit, and couldnt believe he was totally rulling Mayo out of the 8s, leaving himself wide open for mockery. More injury misery coming out of Galway this weekend..

  14. Lads does anyone know what happens if Galway and Mayo DRAW next Sunday< will there be extra- time and what happens if they are still LEVEL after extra time

  15. This has the feeling of Tyrone 2016 where we were made underdogs with no respect for the body of work this team has achieved. Galway still have to do it in the championship their record since 2011 is qualifiers and quarters ours is semis and finals. I expect a performance and result next Sunday.

  16. This build-up could not be going better for us with Comer still talking about the Dubs, Cavanagh writing us off and not a word out of our camp, roll on the game I say!

  17. Another idiot trainee pundit, learning his lines from the other so called experts and geniuses, that get well paid and looked after, to be controversial, and write and talk crap, and who give all their mates and ex footballers the advice and help they need, to get a job in the media bandwagon, so they can write and talk crap together incase they are forgotten about, which they mostly certainly would be, So they have to write, or say something outrageous or controversial to feel important, and full of it, well they are full of it surely, S – -t

  18. That’s deep with Sean Cavanagh , no way that is just a pet hate.it’s grand to form an opinion even if it seems a little sour but the big hateful slieveen smile whilst being totally negative towards Mayo , wtf is that all about?

  19. Re.. The comments of Pundits..Year’s ago. I became very cynical about , pundits and politician’s.. Their only job, is to make sure that they are there to ‘Pundit’ ‘Preach’ or ‘Politic’ and get ‘Paid’ this time next week, next month, next year… Whether they mean exactly what they say or how they say it?…. Your guess is as good as mine!.. Here are a few examples, Colm O Rourke…June 2003 ‘Tyrone will never win an All Ireland, because Brian Doogher is a bad player’ …He went on to say that he would eat his hat if they ever did… But like the word’s many politicians say his word’s were meaningless….. Can any of ye remember his, Colm O Rourke reaction when Louth were denied a deserved Leinster Final victory in 2010 by Meath’s and the Queen of England favourite Royal County ‘Try’ scorer.. Joe Sheridan?.. (Joe Sheridan brought the Queen around Croke Park on her Irish visit a few years ago.. Joe Brolly recently on the Late Late Show… Said that he himself was a show man…. His job in real life was to maybe tear a witness to pieces whether he, regardless of whether he was telling the truth or not! … It’s hard not to admire someone who actually gives their own kidney away, or give a home to a young homeless man…. But can you take their word’s spoken on the Telly at face value, if course you can’t…. RTE and maybe punditry in general is heading to be more like Gerry Springer, every day especially when you compare it the older day’s when Pundits like, Enda Colleran, Tony Davis and Anthony Tohill, gave more reasonable and intelligent explanation’s for their opinions…. Is it for ‘Click Bait’ or to get more and more ‘Twitter followers’, maybe it has something to do with it…. Either way, it is meaningless as regard’s the outcome next Sunday… For my tuppence worth I think, Ciarán Wheelan is by far the best as regard’s to the RTE Gaelic-football pundits at this moment … Come on Mayo,… We love to prove some of them doubters wrong, just as much as we love win ourselves,… Maybe someday we might send a ‘Hat’ to Séan Cavanagh and he can eat it at his leisure!

  20. This Mayo have lost 4 of the last 6 Finals, 3 against the “ Best team of all time” by a single point, and still they are considered as nonrunners in 2018? On what basis? The National League? FBD League maybe? Or is it that postman in donegal that predicts the weather? Did he predict Mayos year and Sean was the first to hear it?

  21. This is all going perfectly. Cavanagh comments ramping up the pressure on Galway and taking the heat off us… I always admired Cavanagh as a footballer but he seems to be a right bitter tool towards Mayo, it’s not dissimilar to a premier league fan who doesn’t like man united telling everyone they will finish outside the top 8 next season.
    They might want it to happen, have convinced themselves it could happen, but in reality it won’t happen as Whether you hate them or not, man united are too good not to finish in the top 8. Likewise Mayo are too good not to make the super 8s.

  22. Can’t stand Cavanagh but he could have a point this time. I think if we lose to Galway we are in deep trouble. It’s alright pointing out how we came through back door in last 2 years but Mayo are extremely vulnerable in early qualifiers. Struggled with Fermanagh in 2016 and Derry in 2017. It’s a really tough ask if we lose v Galway. Still can’t stand Cavanagh.

  23. I always had time for Cavanagh. Great player suspect team and mentoring. Don’t like Harte because he is a saint, right. I did not see the programme or article everyone referred to, but like always Sean done a great job. He got us all talking about him today. Well done Sean.

  24. Damn right things are quiet from our camp. Nothing but a massive focus and an intense training plan in execution these recent weeks to try to close the gap to Galway’s current performance levels. Whether we will buck our own trend and be at our best in mid May remains to be seen. Anything less and these lads know it’s onto another bumpy ride on a backdoor rollercoaster with some very dodgy and rusty looking tracks.

  25. T ose and john casey said the same as sean cavanagh earlier on radio and i agree.
    We have to go full out and win this game and cut out the pussy footing.
    Play to our strenghts and we win over think things and we lose.
    Im going for a win.

  26. Ger your bets on now. When we beat Galway it will be a very different view from the pundits!

  27. Hard luck yesterday to the Ladies team. They’re making great progress. They were up against a team that have been operating at the highest level for the past number of years. We have plenty of young talent and will be closing the gap on the likes of Dublin again this year. They did very well to reach this year’s league final and I hope they will have learned alot from yesterday.

  28. You could be right, Paul, and, if you are (which I suspect you might be), then your question about what happens if it’s still level after extra-time remains a valid one and one I don’t have an answer for. One for John Prenty, I reckon!

  29. Just to answer your question from yesterday, MayoMark – the final was played at Parnell Park because that’s where it’s always played. The only other time Dublin were in the ladies NFL final, in 2014 when they lost to Cork, the game was also played there. Now that they’re top dogs, you could question if home advantage is appropriate for a national final but, to be honest, regardless of where yesterday’s game was played, Dublin would still have won it on that display.

  30. Just as a point of interest, IF Mayo lose next week (which I’m not expecting) does anyone have an idea how many games they would need to play to GET to the Super 8s? And, is that against teams who don’t get through in Connaught, or could it be against teams that do not get through from other provinces?

    I am just wishing to test the soundness of the assertion – taking all emotion out of it – that if Mayo lose to Galway next week Mayo will not be in the Super 8s. Again, taking all emotion out of it. It’s nice to try to know the facts.

  31. Cavanagh must find it difficult carrying that massive Mayo chip on his shoulder..Swallow swoops..If Mayo are beaten on Sunday I think they would be playing teams from other provinces who lose their game..ie potentially the loser from the Monaghan Tyrone game..

  32. About 4 games I think. Would end up playing a beaten provincial finalist in last game.

  33. Swallow Swoops – The losers on Sunday go into Round 1 of the qualifiers, which is an open draw (i.e. no A or B sides as in recent years) so it’s pot luck who gets drawn against whom, both in Round 1 and in ech successive round, as other provincial losers are added in. To get to the Super 8s from Round 1 you have to win four matches, the last one against a beaten provincial finalist. Plus, assuming you get over all that, a county reaching the Super 8s via the qualifiers is unseeded so joins a group with two provincial champions in it. Plenty of incentive, then, for both ourselves and Galway to avoid defeat on Sunday.

  34. Thanks Regina and To Win Just Once. Hmm, I would not fancy having to play Tyrone or Monaghan at an early stage but I completely back our team. We know what they are capable of. I wonder if the qualifier route for Mayo/Galway would be more difficult than, for example, the qualifier route out of Munster. Cavanagh has a number of other teams – outside of “the top four” (of Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone and Galway) in his final eight. I’m not really asking for an answer on that – it just seems like a little bit of a minefield to me : )) Belief and determination can carry us far, I am sure of that.

  35. Thanks Willie Joe – that really helps! I appreciate that! Ar aghaidh linn de Domhnaigh!

  36. Why did Sunday game only show one 5 second piece of footage to Leitrim New York game? Complete insult to the game. New York having some top exiles and Leitrim people deserve to see their team eek out an exciting win on TV. By all accounts it was a cracker. Why also did the not use it as an opportunity to show the women’s league final. Surely watching games is better than hearing analysis and the women’s game also deserves more promotion. 2 bad calls by RTE. The analysis show could easily have been done during the week. Sligo London also only got a few minutes at the end.
    As for draw after extra time I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more extra time followed by point shooting competition like I think the recent Clare Limerick hurling game.

  37. Glad Leitrim won in the end. It’s difficult enough keeping the interest in a county with a population and funding on the same level with Castlebar Mitchells. It’s a boost for NY, but in the end they would have gotten up and gone to work today regardless. It would have damaged Leitrim irrevocably.

  38. Just a last comment – I see now why drawing Galway in our very first game presented a very big challenge. It’s not Galway themselves that are the biggest challenge – it’s the idea of losing in ROUND ONE, the very first game. The system makes the route ahead quite perillous. At any rate, we’re a tough and toughened bunch!

  39. RTE should cut loose a few of them pundits and use the money to put together some proper highlights.

  40. Speaking of punditry – and maybe to help forget about Sean Cavanagh – just to let you know that the Galway preview edition of the podcast will be online this afternoon. Martin Carney, Cora Staunton, Barry Cullinane and Billy Joe Padden all feature on it.

  41. Hurray! Just what we need to help us get in the mood for watching, playing, supporting, being excited, jumping up and down and sometimes glimpsing through open fingers. Up Mayo!

  42. Re..Extra time, according to Marty Morrissey, the New York v Leitrim game would have to have an extra 5 minutes each way, after the first period of extra time had been played, then if it was still level they took 45s ,then a few minutes later he contradicted that, and said it would be a replay after the first period of extra time had being played, so a bit confusing to say the least.

  43. So a “home” win then and its worth 1 point on the pools panel prediction thingy.

    A draw would be worth 2.

    An away win (Mayo win) would be worth 3.

  44. …Arragh ya, shur there’s a bit of an auld enigma to us.

    Why wouldn’t we get through!

  45. Can’t really blame Sean Cavanagh. I’d be bitter too if I ever got keegan’ed. Its gotta hurt.

  46. I couldn’t care less what cavanagh says all pundits writing Mayo off brilliant but non of so called experts have cork in their super 8 have they forgot Mayo escape from Limerick last year.

  47. A few juicy rumours doing the rounds about Galway injuries. I’ll wait until Sunday before I believe them.

  48. Moving [tangentially] on from Cavanagh – the Kerry media contingent have been on a similar path this year. The O’Se brothers have written Mayo off at every juncture, prophecising that we were unlikely to recover from relegation to division two of the league.

    I’m pretty sure Rochford will be happy enough to ask for more of that sauce ahead of Castlebar.

  49. If a game finishes level after extra time and goes to 45s where each team nominates 5 Free Taker’s who played at any stage during game to take 45s, if each team score same it goes to sudden death with the five free takers kicking in same order until somebody misses so order is important – what 5 players would Mayo pick and what order??

  50. Done Deal..The mere possibilty of having to imagine that scenario is stressful..

  51. @Done Deal… If it ever went to 45’s!… I would expect us to win… Cillian, Doherty, Hennelly, Louftus and Shane Nally…. The chances of this happening are a ‘Long Shot’ if you’ll pardon the pun!

  52. Wide ball.. Unfortunately they are true .. But needless to say all will be revesled at 3 55pm on Sunday..

  53. Having watched the League game in Castlebar between these 2 sides I was not too surprised at the outcome in Parnell park yesterday. The Dubs transition to attack caught Mayo out in that league tie. Mayo were ponderous when attacking. Most kick passes were too slow and were well covered by the Dublin defence as a consequence. Mayo wanted to run the ball all the way into goal every time. It worked for them to some extent in the League tie but the Dubs were waiting for them yesterday. Dublin went in hard and may I say that the Cork ladies would have been more up for it yesterday.

  54. Who’s going to paint the shed in the mayo colours, to freshen it up, and then guard it around the clock until the game is over? Handy little number for someone at a loose end, vip treatment for game could be the sweetener, as well as triple the going rate on sentry duty. Any takers? Lol.

  55. I am out of the country next Sunday and no Irish pub in sight to see the Mayo/Galway game . Anyone got any ideas how I could to see the the game on some live stream ??

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