‘Galway probably deserved a draw’ – McHale

IT was the win he needed, but probably not the win he wanted.

Though pleased to get the first win under his belt as Mayo ladies manager, Liam McHale was the first to acknowledge how lucky his side were to come away from Ballinasloe with victory

“I think if I’m being honest, Galway probably deserved a draw,” he told The Mayo News afterwards.

“It’s a good win, we didn’t play well. We made a lot of mistakes. We had some really good opportunities near the end there coming down the stretch to finish off the game. We had a great goal chance and didn’t finish it off.”

Galway were understrength, as were Mayo.

But without the All-Ireland killer queens from Kilkerrin/Clonberne, the reality is that this Galway team were probably at half-strength.

Surely Mayo should have won this won more comfortably?

“Well we had the opportunities to see it out but they were very well organised defensively,” McHale replied when this was put to him.

“Again, our kickout was a major issue. We lost a lot of our kickouts which put us under a lot of pressure.

“Obviously Galway are missing a lot of players but we’re missing a good few players as well. I think that’ll balance itself out as it goes but it doesn't matter what’s happening and who’s on the pitch at this time of the year. It’s all about just picking up wins and we are very thankful that we got the win today.”

Just one player, Niamh Mooney, featured against Galway that didn’t see action the previous week against Meath.

McHale indicated that the tinkering will be kept to a minimum in the next few games.

“You have to try and get six points and the sooner we get that six points the better. I don’t know if you can stick a 19 year-old with very little experience or no experience into a Division 1 game. I don’t think it’s fair on the player,” he said.

“We want to play players that we feel are fit to play at this level and not expose players to a level that they’re not ready to play yet. They might be ready in six months, they might be ready in 12 months or whatever, but you have to be very careful how you transition those players onto the field.”