Mayo Ladies look to raid the Orchard

It's all on the line now. For the second year in a row, the Mayo ladies are in an All-Ireland quarter-final after losing to a top team followed by an overwhelming win over mediocre opposition. This year, Mayo’s hokey-kokey form has seen them slump to a disappointing Connacht final defeat to Galway, beaten by All-Ireland champions Dublin and saunter to an almost embarrassing win over Kildare in Ballina. 

If nothing else, they have been inconsistent to the point where they almost defy analysis. Their record against Sunday’s opponents has been less than stellar in recent years. In 2021, Armagh sent them packing with a 3-14 to 0-12 beating in a group game in Ballinamore.

There was just a point between them in their last year's championship meeting on a day when Mayo were beset by some controversial refereeing decisions. 

Since then, the 2023 Connacht champions have seen a change in personnel and a change in management. Liam McHale is now at the helm and five players who started last year’s championship defeat in the Box-IT Athletic Grounds have since left the panel. A persistent thorn in Mayo’s side every time they have met Armagh has been Aimee Macken - a player McHale once compared to David Clifford.

In their 2021 and 2023 championship meetings, Macken shot 3-6 and 1-5 respectively. Earlier this year, she again took Mayo for 1-5 to almost single-handedly deliver a one-point league win for Armagh - who went on to win their first ever Division 1 league title.

However, her absence due to a long-time injury has provided a major boost to Mayo's chances of getting into a fourth All-Ireland semi-final in a row. 

Mayo manager, Liam McHale, said that Mayo were ‘disappointed’ not to snatch a draw when the Orchard girls came to Ballina on St Patrick’s Day.

“Obviously we had talked about our shot selection and decision making in those situations where we have a team on the rack that there is no need for us to be rushing things, that we keep our composure and take the right options,” McHale told The Mayo News recently. Today, Mayo will face not only the reigning Ulster and league champions - who lost one competitive game this year - but a four-hour-plus journey and a very late throw-in of 5.45pm.

Indeed, all things considered, Mayo could hardly have landed a tougher draw. Despite this, Mayo goalkeeper Laura Brennan has insisted that the green and red are ‘definitely moving in the right direction’ for Sunday’s do-or-die fixture. “I suppose there’s elements of our game all over the pitch that we can improve on. Defensively, and our transition as well. There is always room for improvement in every area of the pitch,” Brennan told The Mayo News in an interview last week.

Mayo have no major injury concerns heading into the weekend and will rely mainly on the firepower of Lisa Cafferky and free-taker Maria Cannon for scores. Aoife Geraghty and Erin Murray put in very encouraging displays at midfield against Kildare, but a full-back line marshalled by the experienced Saoirse Lally will need to be on top of their game to keep Armagh's forwards away from goal. Even without Macken, Liam McHale made no exaggeration in describing Sunday’s game as ‘a mammoth task’ for Mayo.

FIXTURE

TG4 ALL-IRELAND SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER FINAL 

MAYO V ARMAGH

SUNDAY, JULY 7, BOX-IT ATHLETIC GROUNDS, ARMAGH AT 5.45PM