Mayo 2-11
Leitrim 1-11

by Stephen Grealis

Leitrim pushed Mayo to the pin of their collar upon their return to the senior ranks in this TG4 Connacht SFC opener, but 14 wides cost them dearly in Swinford.

Mayo's victory largely came down to their trusted talismanic forward Sinead Walsh, who finished with a personal tally of 1-4.

The hosts had the advantage of a strong breeze at their backs in the opening half and opened the scoring inside the first minute with a point by Erin Murray. Walsh soon added to this, before the dynamic Vivienne Egan got Leitrim off the mark with a well taken score.

Mayo soon landed four in a row, with a free from Walsh, and points from play from three championship debutants Niamh Mooney, Ava McDonnell and Alannah Devereux, the latter a superb strike from way out on the left wing.

Clare Owens responded for Leitrim after 20 minutes with their second point, before Murray and Walsh again pushed Mayo further in front. The game's first goal arrived on 27 minutes with Walsh turned provider for Saoirse Lally, and she delicately palmed the ball over onrushing Leitrim goalkeeper Michelle Guckian.

Leitrim got the final two scores of the half, a pair of frees from the left boot of Ailbhe Clancy leaving seven between the teams at the break at 1-8 0-4.

The visitors had a renewed purpose at the beginning of the second half, knocking over three points. A lot of this was down to the work rate and impact of their full forward Muireann Devaney kicking two of those.

But Mayo responded with the sucker punch as Walsh danced past four defenders before slotting to the back of the net.

The sides traded points before Mayo sub Annie Gough sent her penalty high and over the bar with three minutes to play.

Leitrim were not done however. Devaney took on two Mayo defenders before rifling home a goal to cut the gap to four. She added a free soon after to set up the grandstand finish, but Mayo held on for victory.

Scorers - Mayo: S Walsh 1-4 (2f), S Lally 1-0, E Murray 0-2, A McDonnell, A Deveroux, N Mooney, A Gough (pen), L Hanley 0-1 each.

Leitrim: M Devaney 1-4 (2f), A Clancy 0-4 (3f), C Owens, M Guckian (f), V Egan 0-1 each.

MAYO: J Gawalkiewicz; L Wallace, N O’Malley, C Durkin; D Caldwell (capt.), E Brennan, S El Massry; H Reape, S Lally; R Jordan, N Mooney, A McDonnell; E Murray, S Walsh, A Devereux. Subs: L Hanley for N Mooney (37), K Sullivan for R Jordan (46), A Gough for A Devereux (49), L Hanley for A McDonnell (51), C Whyte for S Lally (57), S McNulty for E Murray (60).

LEITRIM: M Guckian, M Murphy, C Tyrell, J Maye; S Reynolds, C Owens, R McIntyre; N Tighe, C Dolan; A Quinn, V Egan, A Clancy; L Fox , M Devaney, L O’Dowd. Subs: E Shanley for C Dolan (44), S Ward for A Quinn (48), S Quinn for L Fox (52), L Tivnan for M Murphy (58).

Referee: Shane Curley (Galway).

Tweet

Most Read Stories