The men’s inter-county year is over but the women are still standing, with the LGFA Senior football Championship now at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage. This means it’s knockout football from here on and on Saturday we’re up against Galway at Pearse Stadium (throw-in 1.30pm) in an all-or-nothing tie, with a place in the final four up for grabs.
The two counties have already met this summer, with Michael Moyles’ charges outgunning the neighbours in the Connacht final in early May. They won that game at MacHale Park by 3-13 to 2-9, to clinch their first Connacht title since 2016.
Galway have fared better since then, however, as they topped their group, beating Cork and Tipperary, which earned them a home quarter-final tie. Our defeat to Armagh, meanwhile, meant we finished second in our group, with the draw for the quarter-finals sending us on the road to Salthill.
Tickets for Saturday’s match are available here and it’ll be shown live on TG4.
Rob and I are heading to the game and we’ll have a Final Whistle podcast episode online for club members on Patreon soon after it’s over.
The best of luck to the team on Saturday.
Best of luck to our ladies. They are a credit to the county and they are not finished yet.
Great to have Shauna back. She is a great addition. And Deirdre is ticking over nicely.
All are doing grand. Well done. Keep the flag flying. And thank you.
Up Mayo.
Tough game ahead .
Super bunch of ambassadors for Ladies football in Mayo .
Let’s hope some day they get the coverage and support as the lads do .
Fantastic team to watch .
Best of luck Management and ladies
Best of luck ladies. Ye can do it.
Here’s hoping our ladies can get the job done. Looks like another wet a d windy day by the seaside so tactics and attitude will be very important. Give it your best shot Mayo.
Hi Willie Joe. I hadn’t intended to post any comment until next January but I’m sad to see that there are only 4 comments on this important game in 3 days , Where’s Clare, Anne marie, Regina And co? Come on girls! I’ll certainly be watching TG4 as the ladies game is a lot more watchable than the mens
The women’s game isn’t the sole responsibility of the women to promote, MichaelinCork, though I’d agree with you that it would be good to see more interest in tomorrow’s big match. I’m heading to Pearse Stadium for it myself and will have a report on the game here. Rob and I will also be doing a Final Whistle pod at the ground, which will be up on Patreon soon after.
We’ve another new pod up on Patreon. This one features Austin O’Malley chatting with Rob about both the men and the women, reflecting on the Championship exit of the former and looking ahead to the latter’s big match tomorrow.
The reality is – dispite all the talk of equality etc – there is very little support for ladies football. The mens game Galway v Mayo had a crowd of 24,000. We will be lucky to see 500 people at the game tomorrow.
I’m involved in Coaching ladies Club and county over the last 12 years .
While is obvious by the lack of comments wishing the girls ladies well on this , a stone mad Mayo supporters Blog are disappointing but that’s the way it is at the minute but I believe Ladies football support will improve simply because its a better game to watch than the men’s game .
One thing always sticks in my mind .
I had a really good footballer making her debut for her county at Minor level ( not Mayo ).
Neither of her parents came to the match as her brother was playing the 1st round of the championship for the club the same day .
If parents don’t treat the sports the same , nobody will. The sensible option was one to go and watch the daughter playing…..
Anyway it’s all a bit deflating at time but good on ya WJ for keeping the Mayo Ladies in the limelight
It’ll actually be the same for the men’s club champ My Ball, bar an odd comment about the most hyped player of a given weekend. As far as I’m concerned any year, the county nonsense can’t finish fast enough for the real stuff to get going 🙂
agree with you, I’ve really gotten into camogie and ladies football the last few years
Out of interest when did this blog actually “pop” Willie Joe? Was it gradual or was it say in 2013 there was a massive increase all of a sudden? Some of those posts you linked to recently in advance of the Galway/mayo game had a metaphorical virtual man and his dog frequenting the comments section. Is the ratio of comments to visitors actually much higher these days or was it always a similar balance? I get the sense people are much more inclined to voice their opinion online than in the noughties
My ball – I see the same myself at club level. If the son has a game the parents make sure he will be there and they will be there themselves. If the daughter has a game – the smallest reason and she cannot attend- and if she is there at the game there is a good chance the parents won’t be there. If ladies football is going to develop – parents have to be more encouraging and supportive of their daughters playing
I’ve grandchildren (girls) playing and their parents and grandparents attend pretty much every game. Was involved for many years coaching underage boys and latterly girls and the thing that always stood out was the extra boost kids got if family were watching.
The support is shocking, when ladies set up their 50/50 lotto last year or earlier this week the prize money was shocking, reckon averaged close to under €40 a week.
So would look like less than one family member/friend of players and management supported draw (if no supporters ever bought ticket), if cannot get support from your own it will be a struggle to expand.
It’s tough on them, they work extremely hard. So hopefully it pays off the weekend.
Good luck to the Mayo Ladies this weekend
Ciaran – I do an update at the start of every year, providing a few stats on traffic details for the blog. The latest one is here: https://www.mayogaablog.com/site-stats-update-9/.
To answer your specific question, I’d say the point at which the blog really began to take off was in 2012. Five hard, lean years went before then!