Mayo ladies push Dubs to the edge
Dublin 1-17
Mayo 3-9
THE Mayo ladies senior footballers suffered their second defeat in the Lidl NFL when they were narrowly beaten by Dublin in their round three clash played at Croke Park this evening.
For long periods of this encounter Mayo held the upper hand and led until seven minutes before time. However, it was the more experienced Dublin side who finished the stronger to run out winners by two points.
In the opening half, Mayo got off to a blistering start with two early points from Niamh and Grace Kelly in the first 90 seconds. Things got better two minutes later when Rachel Kearins crashed home a great goal. But almost immediately, Dublin came back with a goal of their own by Niamh McEvoy.
Yet, it was Mayo who continued to impress and when Kearins scored a second goal in the 11th minute Mayo led by four points. By the 20th minute this lead had stretched to six points after Fiona Doherty score a brilliant third goal.
However, Dublin ended the half strongly and scored four points to Mayo’s two. This left Mayo leading by 3-4 to 1-6 at the interval.
On the resumption, Dublin upped the ante and began to come a lot more into the game. Yet, the Mayo defence stuck to their job well and made it difficult for their opponents to get scores.
As the game entered the final quarter Mayo still held a two-point lead. However, Dublin began to take over in the final quarter and late points from Niamh McEvoy and Lyndsey Davey gave them a hard-earned victory.
Dublin: C. Trant, M. Byrne, N. Collins, C. Ruddy, A. Kane, S. McGrath, L. Magee, L. Collins, O. Carey, N. Owens (0-1), S. Woods, H. O’Neill (0-2), O. Whyte, L. Davey (0-3), N. McEvoy (1-5).
Subs used: R. Ruddy, J. Dunne (0-2), C. Rowe (0-2), S. Kileen (0-1), S. Aherne (0-1).
Mayo: L. Brennan, N. O'Malley, R. Flynn, D. Caldwell, K. Sullivan, Ciara McManamon, N. Moran, Clodagh McMenamon (0-1), D. Finn, S. Cafferkey, E. Needham, N. Kelly (0-1), F. Doherty (1-2), R. Kearns (2-2), G. Kelly (0-3).
Subs used: C. Whyte, R. Durkan, S. Wilson, N. Gaughan, M. Reilly, A. Duffy.
Referee: B. Rice (Down).