Relegation looms large for Mayo ladies ahead of Kildare visit

THE Mayo ladies’ Division 1 status hangs in the balance this weekend.

Winless from five games, Liam McHale’s women face a fate that has befallen giants like Cork and Galway in recent times - though both Division 2 sides are now primed to bounce back to the top table.

As has been the case many times before with the Mayo ladies, we must look to the past to analyse the future. A past that includes so many talented footballers who, for various reasons, are no longer playing with the county.

The obvious place to start is Mayo and Kildare’s last meeting, a cosy 2-15 0-5 win on a sunny Ballina day in the group stages of last year’s championship.

No red carpet was afforded to local legend Diane O’Hora, who saw her Kildare team swatted aside as Lisa and Sinéad Cafferky shot both goals for the locals.

The Cafferkys are now gone. Maria Cannon, who kicked six points that day is soon heading Down Under, a move that will turn Mayo from weakened to famished.

Into the scoring gap have stepped teenagers Bree Hession and Kayla Doherty, who have both made a fine start to their fledgling senior intercounty careers. But the go-to woman has been Sinéad Walsh, whose loss (through injury) was so sorely felt in their recent loss to Kerry. Mayo’s only score from play that day came from a defender, Saoirse Lally. Shorn of firepower, the resulting 2-8 0-4 defeat to the All-Ireland champions was no more than a damage limitation exercise.

Out of 6-38 scored by the Mayo ladies in this league campaign, Walsh has kicked 4-17 in four games.

Mayo are sweating on her return for the Kildare game, where a defeat will guarantee relegation.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest there will be no repeat of last year’s stroll by the Moy.

With two wins and three defeats, Kildare haven’t set the world alight in Division 1. Hovering one place above the relegation zone, they need a result almost as much as Mayo do to survive in the top eight of ladies football.

However, wins over Meath and Dublin teams that beat Mayo by a combined total of eight shows that these Lilywhites are no shirking violets.

Mayo will be underdogs in the final round when they travel to Waterford, who hockeyed Tyrone 6-15 to 0-6 in their own back yard.

A win is not a want but an absolute must for Mayo on Saturday.

FIXTURE

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 1

MAYO V KILDARE

SATURDAY, MARCH 22

SWINFORD AT 3PM