Westport ladies battle to four-point championship win over Charlestown

Mayo Ladies Senior Football Championship Round 2

Charlestown 2-7 Westport 3-8

Oisín McGovern in Charlestown

TWO early second-half goals were crucial to securing Westport’s first championship win of the season this afternoon.

Despite a late coup attempt by Charlestown, Westport held the fort to win out by four points in a game that was tenacious and enthralling.

It was a case of ‘goals win games’ at a rainy Fr O’Hara Park as the Covies began their second half with a pair of goals from Katie Chambers and Aoife Geraghty.

Charlestown – who were without the yellow-carded Ella Brennan at that point – struggled to break down a Westport defence that double-marked their star forward Deirdre Doherty, who still managed 1-3 from play.

A 55^th minute goal from Charlestown’s Shona Gavin reduced the gap to two, but the victors snuffed out the comeback with a pair of frees from full-forward Laura Moran.

The teams were level three times in total in a first half where Aoife Staunton bagged a goal for Westport in the first minute.

Mayo forward Deirdre Doherty put Charlestown a point up when she took a delightful pass from Nicole McLoughlin to rifle the ball home in the 17^th minute.

The Connacht intermediate champions lost their other county player, Ella Brennan, to a yellow card at the end of a half that finished 1-4 apiece.

That was before a two-goal Westport salvo which landed the deadly blows five minutes into the second half.

A full report plus reaction from Westport’s Saoirse Lally will be carried in Tuesday’s print edition of The Mayo News.