‘We’ve just struggled to score’ - Old mistakes come back to haunt new-look Mayo Ladies

You have to hand it to Liam McHale. Even when his team gets relegated, he still sees the positives and never shirks from addressing the negatives.

Unfortunately, there were few positives to be gleaned after winning one league game in a seven-game campaign.

“We had 12 wides, had six goal chances,” said McHale. “Our conversion rate in front of goal is not there yet.”

And it hasn’t been for some time, as McHale admitted himself.

“That’s been the trend all year; we’ve just struggled to score. Creating opportunities but struggling to finish them.”

Plenty of other things happened in this game that were mimicked in previous rounds, as McHale outlined: “I said to the girls ‘We’re way better than what we showed there’. So those bad turnovers we had, just outside the scoring zone, and our shot selection and decision-making in front of goal. The two of them are kind of connected, it’s what’s costing us a lot.

“When we’re playing against good teams and you’re turning the ball over inside their half when you are in control of the game and they can really punish it, that’s what Waterford did all day and that’s what all the top teams have done to us all year.

“Our space isn’t great, our width isn’t great, and we force a pass, then turn it over and we’re gone and we’re scrambling to get back. That was the biggest takeup for this year because we’re just trying too hard. The girls are great at trying to force the issue, trying too hard and then not taking our chances.”

It was a league campaign in which a new-look Mayo team were expected to struggle, and did struggle, and ultimately got relegated.

“We’re very flat now, very tired and very low,” said McHale.

“The girls are away in college, all trying to get to Castledaly in Westmeath every Wednesday for training, trying to get everybody together and keep the show on the road. It’s been a tough league campaign and unfortunately, now we’re relegated and that’s on us, that’s on us as a management team.”

But still, McHale sees no reason why Mayo can’t bounce back up to the top tier again, just as Galway and Cork did over the weekend.

“But then again, you don’t want to think about that at the moment when there is a championship to be played,” added the Ballina man.

“The girls have a week off, and they’ll dust themselves down and see what happens when they get back. They’ll always keep trying, they’ll always keep very dedicated, they’re very close, the craic with them is great, they’re a great bunch.”