The women’s LGFA NFL Division One clash between Mayo and Dublin concluded at MacHale Park a short while ago. It ended in a five-point win for the All-Ireland champions, as Dublin emerged winners by 0-12 to 0-7.
Although we got the evening’s first score, via Natasha Gaughan, Dublin led pretty much all the way in this game. Two points in quick succession from Carla Rowe saw them hit the front for the first time and although Sinead Cafferkey levelled for us another two Dublin scores saw them take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish afterwards.
By half-time Dublin led by 0-7 to 0-3. From there to the finish – the half punctuated by a constant stream of substitutions on both teams – we were unable to get closer to them, losing out by five at the finish.
As with the men’s game, I was quite happy with the performance of the Mayo women today if not with the result. Dublin had a huge advantage as three in a row All Ireland champs gave them a familiarity with each other which Mayo clearly lacked. This was quite natural as replacing four first choice forwards was never going to be easy. But the performance of some of the Mayo players gave huge hope for the summer. I don’t think that anybody, whether an Australian returnee or otherwise will take Lisa Cafferkey’s place too easily. She was an outstanding player before her departure for London and she still is. Dayna Finn was very impressive at full back and may make it her position going forward while Rachel Kearns impresses me more every time I see her in action.