Emphatic victory keeps Mayo in top flight for 2024

Mayo's emphatic 5-9 to 3-2 victory over Donegal in Division 1 of the LGFA Lidl National League was enough to ensure their top flight status into 2024.

The match in Letterkenny was a straight relegation shootout between the bottom two teams of the division. A draw would have been enough for Mayo by virtue of having one win in the campaign, while Donegal needed victory. A win would have kept the home side up on the head-to-head rule.

There was little chance of Donegal getting the win they needed, however, as Mayo tore into their hosts from the off.

The writing was on the wall as early as the second minute when Deirdre Doherty and Rachel Kearns took advantage of a slack defensive set-up on a close-range Mayo free. With just the goalkeeper and one outfield player on the line and no one else in the defensive zone, Doherty played the ball short to Kearns whose first effort came off the post but rebounded kindly into her arms, after which she side-stepped Donegal 'keeper Aoife McColgan and placed the ball into the net.

A minute later Ciara McGarvey split the posts at the other end, but that would prove to be Donegal's only score for the half.

Mayo went for the jugular at the other end, despite being forced into a couple of changes due to injury to key players, including Kearns.

Three points in a row from Lisa Cafferky had Mayo in a good lead before Sinead Walsh, who replaced Kearns, got Mayo's second goal on 20 minutes.

Cafferky netted soon after to put Mayo 3-3 to 0-1 ahead, and following a free by Shauna Howley, Deirdre Doherty took advantage of another Donegal gift to score Mayo's fourth goal. A free by the same player on the stroke of half-time had Mayo leading by 16 at the break, 4-5 to 0-1.

Having already used five subs in the first half, Mayo manager Michael Moyles used the second to make many more changes.

They were still able to get through for a goal (scored by Sinead Cafferky) and four points (two from Maria Cannon and one each from Ella Brennan and Erin Murray), although Donegal – for whom McGarvey, Amy Boyle Carr and Niamh McLaughlin were to the fore – showed some fight to land three goals in that second period, two of them coming late on as the game became disjointed.

Mayo had their job done by then, however, and ended up winners by 5-9 to 3-2, leaving them well clear of relegation worries at the end of play.

Mayo: Laura Brennan; Eilis Ronayne, Danielle Caldwell, Saoirse Lally; Tamara O'Connor, Ciara Needham, Kathryn Sullivan; Aoife Geraghty, Sinead Cafferky; Maria Reilly, Shauna Howley, Fiona McHale; Lisa Cafferky, Rachel Kearns, Deirdre Doherty.

Subs: Lisa Reid May, Roisin Flynn, Hannah Reape, Ella Brennan, Jenna Mortimer, Lucy Wallace, Sarah Tierney, Saoirse Delaney, Erin Murray, Sarah Mulvihill, Maria Cannon, Ciara Durcan, Emily Reape, Roisin Durkan.

Donegal: Aoife McColgan; Caoimhe Keon, Emer Gallagher, Nicole McLaughlin; Roisin Rodgers, Amy Boyle Carr, Tara Hegarty; Shelly Twohig, Niamh McLaughlin; Niamh Carr, Katie Long, Katie Dowds; Susanne White, Katy Herron, Ciara McGarvey.

Subs: Claire Friel, Abigail Temple Asoko, Jodie McFadden, Shauna Higgins, Saskia Boyle, Aobhinn O'Connell, Katie O'Donnell, Codie Walsh, Sophie McFeely, Catherine Boyle, Laoise Ryan, Cait Gillespie, Karen Guthrie, Shannon McGroddy.