The county’s women footballers were beaten this afternoon by Galway in the LGFA Connacht SFC final. The game was played in showery, blustery conditions at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park where the visitors eased to victory on a scoreline of 0-16 to 1-4.
Galway – aiming to seal back-to-back provincial title wins this afternoon – had the strong wind at their backs playing into the bacon factory end in the first half. The early exchanges were cagey and ten minutes passed without a score at either end. This opening passage by punctuated by periods of possession for both teams, which produced a large volume of handpasses but no end product.
Galway finally opened their account from a free. They then proceeded to lay siege to the Mayo goal, applying a full press on all our restarts, with the result that we were unable to break out of our half at all for the best part of ten minutes.
By the time we eventually did, the visitors had six unanswered points on the board. The home team finally opened their account via a Sinéad Walsh free in the 23rd minute.
Galway responded to that one with a point from play soon after. Two minutes from half-time we got our first score from play, Erin Murray collecting a long ball and fisting it over. The defending champions added two further points before the hooter, to leave seven between them at the break.
The start of the second half followed a similar pattern, with eight minutes passing without a score. Then Galway converted a free and followed up immediately with one from play as they stretched their lead to nine.
As we sought to cut the deficit, Kathryn Sullivan saw her left-footed effort come back off the crossbar. Instead the next score came at the other end as Galway’s lead reached double digits.
We cut the gap soon after, though, when Sinéad Walsh converted a penalty after Clodagh Keane was bundled over when seeking to claim possession in the square.
They got the next point and then we had a chance to bag a second goal. Clodagh Keane shot low but the Galway ‘keeper was equal to it. Soon after another Galway free increased the gap to nine.
Sinéad Walsh then landed a monstrous point, one that would have counted as a two-pointer in the men’s game. The MacHale Rovers player also landed our final score of the day, this one from a free, but Galway added two further points to their tally to seal a nine-point win and, with it, the provincial spoils.
Now it’s onto the group stage of the Championship. Today’s result means that Liam McHale’s team are in with the Munster champions – which will surely be Kerry – and Cork.
We’ll have a Final Whistle pod from the game up on Patreon a bit later on.
Mayotillidie says:
May 25, 2025 at 3:18 pm
Unfortunately that team, not giving the tool to compete. Management not right for these girl, and have gone back a rate of knots, since they took over
Blond64 says:
May 25, 2025 at 3:26 pm
Hard luck ladies. Nice to see the 1976 Mayo team presented to the crowd at half time. Connacht Champions then.
Willie Joe says:
May 25, 2025 at 3:35 pm
Final Whistle pod up on Patreon now.
James Fleming says:
May 25, 2025 at 3:48 pm
Hard luck ladies they are a young team there will be better days ahead for this young team
John+McHale says:
May 25, 2025 at 5:22 pm
There was no hard luck story with this game.
Galway were hot favourites to win this one and by the sound of it they were in total control from the off.
Maybe the talent isn't there at the moment and maybe management aren't getting the best out of them, either way one has to feel sorry for the players...
Jack says:
May 25, 2025 at 5:45 pm
Mayo did their best and have some of the best players in the country.
to win just once says:
May 25, 2025 at 7:18 pm
Well beaten today as expected Was pleased to be hanging in after 10 minutes against the breeze but in truth we were second best all day long. Hard luck to the girls but we are simply not nearly good enough for Galway at the moment.
Anne-Marie says:
May 25, 2025 at 7:44 pm
Surely also time for a change of management here now. Very similar to the men's story at the moment but the level of attrition speaks volumes.
tirawleybaron says:
May 25, 2025 at 7:49 pm
The list of missing players off in Oz and not making themselves available to play for Mayo guarantees there will be no success for Mayo senior ladies.
We simply don't produce enough to have two teams.
Grace Kelly (Adelaide, Mayo)
Niamh Kelly (Adelaide, Mayo)
Maria Cannon (Carlton, Mayo)
Dayna Finn (Carlton, Mayo)
Sarah Rowe (Collingwood, Mayo)
Rachel Kearns (Geelong, Mayo)
Aileen Gilroy (Hawthorn, Mayo)
Thats 7 players who would make all the difference to this team.
Galway only have one player in Oz.
Dublin have 4, Meath 3
Mayo are suffering the most from Aussie rules expansion
As long as they go over and dont play for the county, success won't be a possibility at senior level.
Sticks for the Reek says:
May 25, 2025 at 9:02 pm
Tirawleybaron. That's certainly a big drain on resources and Cora was the first and good luck to them all. In this country they don't even play at great venues a lot of the time so who would blame them at their age for doing a bit of travel, nice weather and a few dollars to boot.
Padraic Mc says:
May 25, 2025 at 9:42 pm
Tirawleybaron … sorry but sick of that excuse for this management team … all those girls apart from Maria cannon have not played for mayo since 2021 … yet the team reached 3 all Ireland semi’s in a row and 2 league semi finals , beat Galway by double scores in Castlebar the year before this management took charge without again any of the above mentioned … apart from Rachel Kearns so its lazy analysis to use the Austrailian excuse. The fact is a full team has walked away over past two years from the set up for reason yet to come to light and that is unsustainable… time for a change and get the players back … previous managements record against Galway was 5 wins , 2 losses and 1 loss was by a point in the league … now we are talking about how far ahead Galway are from us … very frustrating as same players are all still in Ireland apart from 1
tirawleybaron says:
May 26, 2025 at 6:26 am
Regardless of current management, there is a long history of player/management issues in Mayo ladies for 20 years.
Getting to All Ireland semis isn't good enough either for the talent being produced.
The overall point still stands, Mayo won't win much while their best players are constantly leaving.
A lot of players in other counties manage to play Gaelic and Aussie rules - just no one in Mayo.
Padraic Mc says:
May 26, 2025 at 11:03 am
Your comment said the list of players means not making themselves available GUARANTEEDS there will be no success , my point is a Connacht title was won 2 years ago without them… the team was on an upward trajectory , that has fallen exponentially under the current management …. On the austrailian issue that is out of the hands of the current management and don’t blame them at all for that , you can’t make people play , of the desire and will is not there move on but prepare who you have properly . I feel continually talking about players who are not here is highly disrespectful to the players who are and are training 5 times a week to represent their county … finally saying getting to all Ireland semis and winning Connacht isn’t good enough ???? It’s a lot better than relegation and getting hammered by Galway …. Majority of players in Australia those are in their early to mid 30’s now … think it’s time to move on like we had been up till 2 years ago imo