Photo: RTÉ
I’m only back in the door inside the last few minutes and having spent some hours behind the wheel I missed all of the action from this evening’s LGFA League Division One decider. From what I can gather our girls battled bravely against the all-conquering Rebels but in the end it was Cork who won out on a 1-10 to 0-10 scoreline.
It’s a first piece of silverware for new Cork manager Ephie Fitzgerald but for the Rebels it’s a tenth LGFA title in twelve years. Combined with their dominance in the championship in recent years, Cork really are a class apart in ladies football right now and they have been for some time.
Still, by the sounds of it, the Mayo ladies battled bravely in this evening’s decider at Parnell Park and they only gave up their unbeaten record in 2016 after a tough fight. There’s no disgrace in that and their great run over the spring surely augurs well for their prospects in this year’s championship.
Commiserations on this evening’s loss and the best of luck to them for the summer.
Match reports on tonight’s League decider: Mayo Advertiser, RTÉ, The 42.
Hard luck to our ladies. That Cork ladies team must be arguably the best ladies football team of all time now with their records.
Down but not out! We had the winning of that game – and by a decent margin too – if we could only have converted our possession. We hit wide after wide and dropped a number of balls short – a little like our u21s in the first half last weekend – but unfortunately despite a number of attempts this Cork defence just wasn’t giving up any goals.
Serious credit to Cork, they withstood a huge Mayo push in the final quarter of an exciting game and looked as hungry as ever. What a team they are.
But I saw enough tonight to suggest that these Mayo women will be challenging come the business end of the championship – their tackling was fierce at times, there were some spectacular turnovers, their workrate was excellent and they just never gave up. On another day, those shots would have counted on the scoreboard, and tonight will have taught them a lot.
Very proud of them and Frank and his team too – I have every faith that greater days await.
Too many wides cost us, shame only 2 posters before me, the ladies they deserve attention. Cora is a great player, arguably the best that ever played ladies football, but I have formed this controversial opinion, Mayo could benefit from not playing Cora, I was at the last All Ireland final Mayo ladies played versus Cork, really all Cork had was put 3 or 4players on Cora and the Match was won them. If the Mayo ladies played a few challenge games without the Cork and even lose them, the other forwards could only benefit, a one man or one woman team will never win.
Leantimes – while I think Cora is the greatest ever ladies footballer, she was in possession countless times yesterday and did not pass to a team mate free in the outside. Instead tried to plough through a bunch of Cork players and loose the ball or kick a wide.
Good defensive display from the ladies and a great league campaign which has seen them reemerge as Championship contenders.
They need to put more thought into their attack when they play against such a solid team as Cork have been.
Staunton draws in so many defenders. If she can learn the right time to put the head down, or look up, she will play better for longer. And so will the ladies team.
Yew_tree I think that’s a fair assessment – Cora is a spectacular footballer and her appetite for winning has never dipped; but our results and score sheets this year show that we now have a stronger team in place that means she doesn’t have to do it all on her own.
I do genuinely feel that yesterday will stand to us on the long term. I felt that if we’d had five more minutes, we’d have snatched it and I think if we meet Cork again, we’ll know what it takes to win.
We had a number of excellent performers yesterday, particularly in defence but my god, Fiona McHale worked her socks off. After an error on the first half, she was our engine yesterday and never gave up the ghost. She was everywhere.
Onwards and upwards, 8/9 ain’t bad!
Hard luck to our ladies team, best of luck to them for the season ahead.
I wasn’t able to watch the full match – 1st half only. My overall impression is that Mayo will be in with a serious shout of winning the championship this year. Levels of fitness and skill, support play, attacking intent and hunger are all there. There was very little between the teams – Cork’s goal came from one of their forwards being left in acres of space and they exploited the overlap to the full but our marking tightened up after that.
There is one outstanding issue that needs to be addressed. Cora is a fantastic player but the big question is how best to maximise her contribution to the team. The strategy yesterday was to kick high balls into her/other forwards, but 4 or 5 really promising attacks came to nothing because of inaccurate kick passing or wrong type of kick pass. When Cora did get the ball it was invariably head down and head for goal but it nearly always ended up in possession being turned over. This strategy might work against weaker opposition but definitely not against the top teams, but is Frank Brown strong enough to bite the bullet and change the attack strategy?
On a final note, in terms of winning national titles, the Mayo ladies team has done us proud down the years and I wish them the best of luck this year.
I do t know about the rest of you but it’s beginning to feel like championship today…was at a club game earlier and looking forward to club championship next weekend. Then it’s all eyes on London….exciting times ahead
The swallows are building away.The hives are abuzz with business and the Boeing has landed in Enniscrone…..all done with great aplomb, belief long in the brewing and also with hands on cooperation! It’s still simple but not easy.
Hard luck to the Ladoes there is absolutely no shame in a 3 point defeat to Cork who are like the Barcelona of ladies Gaelic football could be a good year for this Mayo team great to see them so strong again
I am not into the ladies game much. I disagree with this assessment about Cora. She is a great player but she is used incorrectly. Cork won this game by the way they implemented their counter attack. It was fast accurate foot passing into the scoring zone. Mayo was all about hard work and running. They seemed determined to push every Cork defender in front of them before passing to Cora who was double marked and in no space. The fact that she got 6 or 7 scores illustrates what a great footballer she is. Mayo were the better team and should have won with less effort. They need to play a more effective game let the ball do the hard work as Cork done. Mayo defence was very good, but overall disappointing
The problem with doing that PJ was th excellent Cork defence – the long ball in wasn’t really working for Mayo. The frustrating thing was that if they’d only had their shooting boots they would probably have won it, but look, better days ahead.
There was a small enough crowd in Parnell last night but boy, were they loud and able to get behind the team. Lovely atmosphere too.
I’m very disappointed for the women and wish they had their shooting boots on for this game. they were equal to Cork in every aspect except for the final execution. Cork are powerful but this Mayo team is a team to be proud of…and I am. Well done on a super league and hopes that this year will see a big push for the All-Ireland for our women. They are brilliant ambassadors for our county and make me proud as ever to be from Mayo…Best of luck for this coming championship. Maigheo abu!
Great performance from Fiona McHale. Reminded me of Diarmuid at times such was her drive and power. I feel we left this after us. The constant goal seeking was the undoing of us. Throw the ball over the bar and work on getting the gap down. We had loads of possession. If the goal chances come so and good but don’t try to force the matter. Also players need to lay off the ball to better placed colleagues when they are boxed in. What happens is the other players stop looking if they are not getting the passes. Overall though a great effort.
Mayo were a one trick pony again.
Put 4 players on Cora and no other mayo players could score if it was handed to them on a plate.
Thought Sarah Rowe was a player that could take some of the burden of Cora, but she didnt show up the last day.
Cork were overall the better team.