BORD GAIS ENERGY LADIES NFL ROUND UP

By Cian Murphy

GALWAY registered their first win of the league campaign – but only after they survived a massive dogfight with their neighbours and rivals Mayo in Ballindine yesterday.

With Galway having drawn two of their previous three games and Mayo ropoted ot the bottom and desperate for a first win this was always going to be a closely fought encounter.

And it was the Tribes women who raced into a commanding lead and were 1-10 to 0-6 up at half time thanks to the accuracy of Tracey Leonard from frees with good support from Sarah Murphy.

When Yvonne Daly crashed in a goal in the 18th minute it put Galway in the driving seat over a Mayo team who, in truth, were overly reliant on the masterful Cora Staunton who finished the day with 1-8 in all.

Mayo were much improved in the second half with Martha Carter dominant at midfield and Lisa Cafferkey helping Staunton carry the scoring burden as Galway began to pay a high price for failing to sustain their first half pressure.

When star forward Staunton raided inside for a Mayo goal it cut the gap to two points with 11 minutes to go.

But just when it looked as if Galway were about to be rattled, Tracey Leonard, who scored 0-10 in all, picked off some important frees to lift the siege for last year’s beaten division one finalists.

In a cracking last 10 minutes Mayo came looking for a second goal and right at the finish Cora Staunton beat two defenders and squared the ball perfectly for Ciara Hanahoe in front of the net – but the advancing Galway keeper Tina Hayes averted the danger.

There was a big shock in division two where All-Ireland champions and promotion pace setters Dublin were beaten 2-7 to 1-8 by Cavan in Maghera.

Cavan were the better side in wet conditions and were helped into a 1-5 to 0-5 interval lead by an Aisling Traynor goal in the 22nd minute when her speculative ball into the square deceived the Dublin defence and fell into Emma Merrigan’s net.

A second goal from Cavan’s top scorer Aisling Doonan surged the Breiffni women ahead, but the All-Ireland champions showed their class to kick the next three points before Amy McGuinness scored a goal to level.

The Dubs, who had their All-Ireland winning captain Denise Masterson sin-binned,
brought on big guns to try and sway the momentum, but a hard working Cavan refused to yield with Aisling Traynor to the fore and Doonan finishing with 1-4.

In division three Clare stayed unbeaten as they proved much too strong for a game Limerick, winning 2-17 to 2-8 and with Niamh O’Dea scoring an impressive 2-8 of Limerick’s total.

Westmeath made it four wins from four in division four with a commanding 5-9 to 1-5 win over Offaly. Westmeath led 2-6 to 0-1 at half time thanks to goals from Karen Hegarty and Katie Somers with Sarah Dolan also prominent.

In the second half Offaly peppered the Westmeath goal – but the league leaders were repeatedly saved by stand in ‘keeper Triona Durkan who is normally a wing back but was in for the injured Gemma Leahy and was outstanding at thwarting Offaly’s main threat Kym Furey.

Sarah Dolan finished with 1-5 and Katie Somers 2-0 as Westmeath took a massive stride towards promotion.

DIVISION 1

Tyrone 2-6, Laois 2-12
Mayo 1-11, Galway 1-14
Cork 5-17, Donegal 0-7

DIVISION 2

Sligo 3-8, Meath 3-15
Waterford 2-14, Tipperary 2-10
Kerry 1-10, Armagh 1-9
Cavan 2-7, Dublin 1-8

DIVISION 3

Fermanagh 0-16, Wexford 1-8
Leitrim 1-13, Longford 0-4
Clare 2-17, Limerick 2-8
Down 2-13, Wicklow 2-12

DIVISION 4

Carlow 1-9, Kilkenny 3-4
Derry 3-4, Roscommon 6-9
Offaly 1-5, Westmeath 5-9