On board

Connolly on board

Mayo ladies bring in club boss ahead of final

Daniel Carey

MARTIN Connolly has joined the Mayo ladies management team ahead of next Sunday’s TG4 Connacht senior final. Connolly, a teacher in Rice College, Westport who is in charge of the Burrishoole’s men’s team, will work alongside Mayo manager Michael Ryder and trainer Paul Jordan.
The other big news from the Mayo camp is that Helena Lohan is in contention to play in Sunday’s game. The Shrule woman has not played a competitive match since last year’s All-Ireland final, but has been getting treatment on a serious ankle injury. There is some concern about team captain Claire O’Hara, who has been carrying a hamstring injury in last few days. But Ryder told The Mayo News that the Castlebar Mitchels player is ‘almost better now’ and he’s ‘hoping’ that both players will be fit for the game in Castlebar.
Cora Staunton has recovered from cruciate ligament surgery, and played her first full game in seven months against Roscommon ten days ago. Also back in the fold are Claire Egan, Martha Carter, Triona McNicholas and Denise McDonagh, though a turbulent start to 2008 means that many of the players who featured in last year’s All-Ireland final defeat to Cork are not involved this time around.
It was mid-February before Ryder was appointed as Frank Browne’s successor, but the Galwayman says that Mayo are ‘doing well at the moment, despite the late start’. Leitrim’s decision to pull out of the competition means that Mayo have got a bye straight to the provincial decider – a less than ideal situation, according to the manager.
“There’s a difference between challenge games and championship. It’d be nice if we had got a championship game just to see how we’re going …  We’re out to give a good performance. We’ve trained well for the last number of weeks, and the girls are eager for the game.”
Sligo got the better of Galway in their semi-final, and while that result had some in the ladies game raising an eyebrow, Ryder insists he ‘wasn’t surprised’ by the Yeats County’s victory, noting that Sligo were ‘really up for it’.
While Mayo will be aiming to retain the CBE Cup, defeat next Sunday will not be the end of the road. The provincial champions will go straight into the All-Ireland quarter-finals, while the losing finalists will have a chance to redeem themselves in the second round of qualifiers.