Old habits die hard for Mayo Ladies in Leitrim tie

“We did it again.”

There was no hiding Liam McHale’s frustration on Sunday. For the umpteenth time this season,Mayo gained control of a game before almost letting it run away on them.

READ MORE: Mayo Ladies pushed all the way by Leitrim in Championship opener

“I just said it to the girls there, we were in control of Kildare game and lost our way from careless passes and careless decision-making. We did it against Tyrone, we did it again today,” the Mayo manager told The Mayo News.

“We are playing good football, we did a lot of really good things, and then we do some silly things, and we let them back into the game. Leitrim are very good, they are a slick outfit, they stretched us and pulled us around the place. They have three or four very good players, and they play all the ball through them, and they gave us plenty of problems, and they missed a few goal chances.”

His captain, Danielle Caldwell, admitted that Sunday’s display was not what it could have been.

“We got over the line, which is the main thing. Certain aspects of our play we wouldn’t be too happy with, but we’ll just bring that to training Wednesday and try and learn and grow again.”

Mayo had five championship debutantes on Sunday: Julia Gawalkiewicz, Riona Jordan, Ava McDonnell, Niamh Mooney, and Alannah Devereux.

They stuck to the same attacking game plan they’ve pursued all year, and all the new players did fine, with the four forwards clocking a point each.

READ MORE: Mayo girls remain unbeaten as they edge out Roscommon

McHale pushed back slightly at the suggestion that Mayo’s inexperience had anything to do with Leitrim’s late putsch.

“Well, Ciara Durkan gave away the ball, and she’s as good a player as you’ll get. I said to her, ‘I nearly had a heart attack when you made that pass’ and she said ‘I nearly had a heart attack too’. And it’s not like her,” he said, highlighting one particular late mistake.

“But it’s funny. The likes of Lynda [Hanley] came on and scored a point, there was no mistakes. That’s the kind of silly things that our more experienced players are forcing the issue. Maybe the young players have no fear, and maybe some of the senior players have that little bit of anxiety in them from losing tight games in the past, so it’s a hard one to figure out.

"I’m really disappointed that, again, we are in control of the game, we are playing a decent brand of football, and we make mistakes that let the opposition back in the game. The longer this goes on, the more that’s going to cost us, and it could have cost us again today.”

The focus quickly turned towards Galway in Tuam on May 10. Mayo are awaiting the return of Claremorris forward Bree Hession, Mayo Minor star Kayla Doherty, and key midfielder Aoife Geraghty, who is struggling with the after-effects of an injury she sustained against Armagh.

McHale said it was unlikely Geraghty would feature against Galway, but seemed optimistic, regardless, that Mayo can put it up to their hold rivals in two weeks’ time.

“Last year we played them in Kiltoom in the Connacht final, and they beat us by five. They were two up going into injury time, and they got a goal in the last play of the game. We won’t be afraid of them, you can be sure of that,” said McHale, who insisted that Mayo are ‘in a good place’ with a win under their belt.

“I would have preferred to have finished with an eight- or nine-point lead, it didn’t happen that way because of our mistakes, but we know now that, maybe it’s the best thing that could happen. We know now that we have an awful lot of work to do.”