Magnificent win for Mayo ladies against Cork
MAYO ladies have qualified for the Lidl Ladies National League Division 1 final following their well deserved 1-20 to 3-12 victory over arch rivals Cork in Birr today.
After ending Cork’s dream of winning six league titles in a row, Mayo will now face Dublin in the decider at Parnell Park on Saturday week. This clash will be a repeat of the 2017 All-Ireland championship decider, which Dublin won.
This latest victory for Mayo over Cork came after a magnificent all round team performance, despite the fact they trailed their opponents by five points with just eight minutes gone on the clock.
Special mention must go to inside forwards Sarah Rowe and Grace Kelly, who scored 16 points between them, and also to wing-forward Sinead Cafferky, who scored a brilliant second-half goal before denying Cork a goal in the final moment when she got back to make a brilliant goal line save.
Mayo led twice in the opening minutes with points from Grace Kelly and Rowe but found themselves five behind in the eighth minute after Cork scored a 1-3 with reply. But Mayo hit back with two more points from Rowe and one from Cafferky before they had to thank goalkeeper Sorcha Murphy who made a wonderful save from a well-taken Eimear Scally penalty. Scally hit her shot low and hard but Murphy was equal to the challenge, getting a hand to the ball and turning it around the post.
The save seemed to spur Mayo on and they went on to dominate, raising another nine white flags before the half ended. However, they did concede a soft second goal in the 27th minute when Orla Finn got inside theMayo defence. Yet Mayo still held a one-point lead, 0-14 to 2-7, as the teams went in for the half-time break.
On the resumption, Mayo midfielder Aileen Gilroy extended her side's lead with a delightful point from play in the opening minute. However, three minutes later the reigning champions were back in front after Finn pointed from a free and Libby Coppinger scored her side's third goal of the game.
But Mayo just kept battling away and by the time the game entered the final quarter they had regained the lead after Rowe, Fiona McHale and Grace Kelly raised white flags.
Finn and Rowe exchanged points before Mayo got their only goal of the game in the 51st minute. It came after a great move involving Gilroy, McHale and Rowe before Sinead Cafferky gave the Cork 'keeper no chance with a powertful shot to the net.
In the closing moments Cork threw everything at Mayo but try as they might they couldn't get the goal they badly needed, even though they went very close in the 60th minute before Cafferky denied them with that goal line save.
Overall it was a brilliant Mayo victory and any team that can put up a score of 1-20 deserves to come out on top.
Mayo: S. Murphy, O. Conlon, S. Tierney, S. Ludden, D. Caldwell, E. Lowther, D. Hughes, C. McManamon, A. Gilroy (0-1), F. McHale (0-1), F. Doherty, S. Cafferky (1-1), N. Kelly (0-1), S. Rowe (0-9), G. Kelly (0-7).
Subs used: M. Corbett, R. Kearns, S. Howley.
Cork: M. O’Brien, M. Ambrose, E. Meaney, E. Spillane, M. O’Callaghan, M. Duggan, S. Kelly, A. Hutchings, B. O’Sullivan, C. O’Sullivan (0-2), C. Collins, O. Farmer, L. Coppinger (2-0), E. Scally (0-1), O. Finn (1-9).
Subs used: A. O’Sullivan, A. Barrett.
Referee: B. Rice (Down).