Mayo ladies are now within touching distance of the big guns

Aiden Henry

The Mayo ladies senior footballers can, for the second year running, look back at what was a successful season on the inter-county scene.

While there was no silverware won in 2022, Mayo acquitted themselves well in both the National League and All-Ireland championship. Indeed, the progress they had showed in 2021 continued this year as the reached the semi-finals in the country's top two major competitions.

In so doing, there was enough evidence to suggest that this new young team that manager Michael Moyles and his backroom staff have been building for the past 18 months is almost now up there with the top teams in the country and ready to make a big challenge for national honours in 2023.

Their year started off with the National League. Their two big games in their group were against Galway and Donegal. They travelled to Tuam to play Galway and came away with a confidence-boosting 6-6 to 2-8 victory. However, it must be stressed Galway were without their Kilkerrin/Clonberne players, who had just won the 2021 All-Ireland senior club title (a feat they repeated in recent weeks with the capture of the 2022 club title).

The game against Donegal was played in Bekan. The only thing to be decided in this clash was who would top the group as both had already qualified for the league semi-finals. Nevertheless, it was a very tough and competitive game which Mayo edged by 2-7 to 1-7. Mayo’s reward was a semi-final meeting with All-Ireland champions Meath, who had finished runners-up in their group.

Played in Clones, Mayo really put it up to Meath. After playing with the wind, they led by three points at half time. However, on the re-start Meath hit a real purple patch where they scored an unanswered 2-5 to take an eight-point lead. But then Mayo showed they had progressed to a new level by hitting back at Meath to get within two points of the champions.

Although Meath finished strongly to win the game, there was more than enough in this performance to suggest this young Mayo side were progressing really well.

CRACKING

Mayo’s next big game was against Galway in the Connacht final. Once again Tuam was the venue. More importantly, Galway had the Kilkerrin/Clonberne players back in the squad. All in all, it turned out to be a cracking game.

Mayo went well behind again but fought their way back into contention in the second half by getting within two points of their opponents after having been seven points down. However, in the end Galway held on for a narrow victory.

It was then on to the All-Ireland series, where Mayo were joined by Dublin, Tipperary and Cavan in their group. After good victories against Tipperary and Cavan, Mayo lost narrowly to Dublin in their final group game, which was to decide who gained the top spot as both had already qualified for the All-Ireland quarterfinals.

With Mayo finishing runners-up in their group, they were pitted against Cork in the quarterfinals. Cork had recorded some fine victories and were odds-on to send Mayo packing. However, Michael Moyles' charges had other ideas. They produced a magnificent performance to come away the deserving winners and claim a place in the All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry.

The semi-final was another cracking game, but goals win games and this proved no different. Kerry scored three in the opening half, which left Mayo always chasing the game. While Mayo rallied, they were unable to claw back the Kerry lead and bowed out of the championship.

Overall, it was a very good year for the county senior team. They will have gained massive experience, which is sure to stand to them as they plot and plan the year ahead. If 2022 is anything to go by, we should see Mayo challenging for honours this year.