Mayo Ladies beaten by classy Armagh side in The Athletic Grounds

LIDL NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Armagh 2-14

Mayo 1-10

The Athletic Grounds, Armagh

A dogged second half performance from Mayo kept them in contention tonight in Armagh after the home side seemed out of sight at half time. A ten-point lead at the interval seemed destined to be doubled when the teams came out for the second period but Mayo were a different animal after that and if they had taken some gilt-edged goal chances, would have been even closer at the end. 

That said, the Ulster women were clear and deserving winners after playing excellent football in the 15 minutes before half time.

Liam McHale's women started the game on the front foot with wing-back Hannah Reape prominent. Two early points from Bree Hession got them off and running, and Sinead Walsh burst through the Armagh cover only to see her shot clear the crossbar.

Armagh soon took charge and were dominant in almost every sector. They attacked at pace and points streamed over the bar as Mayo found it hard to stem the orange tide, despite a fine point from Kayla Doherty.

Blaithin Mackin came forward from wing-back to kick two points while forwards Moya Feehan, Niamh Reel and Eve Lavery did likewise. The home side shook the net after 27 minutes when Niamh Henderson's effort ended up in the corner of the net - no fault of Mayo's goalkeeper Julia Gawalkiewicz.

That helped the home side into a big 1-11 to 0-4 lead at the break.

The second half was a better one for Mayo. They curtailed the Armagh scoring machine and were much more competitive themselves.

Points arrived from Aoife Geraghty, Maria Cannon, Hession and substitute Ciara Whyte, who made a big difference when she came on. The Mayo women drove forward whenever the opportunity arose. The goal Mayo needed arrived eight minutes into the second half when full-back Saoirse Lally arrived on the end of a flowing move and blasted the ball to the net.

However, Mayo were rocked back on their heels again by a goal at the other end from the excellent Niamh Henderson. The Lurgan woman caused Mayo problems all day and when Caoimhe McNally came off the bench to kick two points and keep the home side in front.

Mayo kept trying and a late goal chance for Chelsea Doherty was smothered after another flowing move took the ball into the Armagh danger zone..

A full match report and after-match reaction will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News.