Ladies Football Article

Ladies Football Article

Mayo captain Claire O’Hara will miss this Saturday’s TG4 Senior Championship quarter-final against Kerry in Croke Park with a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

 

O’Hara aggravated the injury in a recent challenge match and will sit out the ladies football double header at GAA headquarters ahead of the Men’s All Ireland Football quarter-final between Dublin and Tyrone.

 

The midfielder is replaced in the side by Martha Carter who moves from the half back line to fill the void left by the team’s captain. O’Hara is slightly concerned over the lack of game time her side has had this season especially considering their poor showing in this year’s national league.

 

“We haven’t had a huge amount of challenge matches since winning the Connacht title and a lot of the teams in this stage of the competition have played two or three Championship games by now so there is always the worry that we will perform like we did in the league,” said O’Hara.

 

Kerry and Mayo have met several times in the national league over the last number of years but this will be their first Championship clash for some time. Back in February Kerry amassed a score of 6-12 against a hapless Mayo side but O’Hara is confident that the score line will be a lot closer this time around.

 

“We have had some really tight battles with Kerry in the league and we beat them by just a point in 2007. They gave us an almighty thrashing earlier this year but we were going through a difficult time, we had no manager in place and we fulfilled the fixture with a depleted squad so I don’t think the score line is a fair reflection of either side,” O’Hara said.

 

There are a lot of new faces in this year’s Mayo team with seven changes to the side that lined out against Cork in last year’s All Ireland final and despite a tumultuous start to the season the Westerners are determined to prove their All Ireland credentials.

 

“We have a lot of new girls involved in the squad so lining out in Croke Park this Saturday will be a first for a lot of them as a good many of the new faces were not with us last September. We feel we have a lot to prove as a team and that we underperformed in last year’s All Ireland final. We believe we are still capable of winning an All Ireland title,” said O’Hara.

 

In the opening game on Saturday’s triple bill at Croke Park, Ulster champions Monaghan take on Connacht finalists Sligo. Monaghan surprised a few people by claiming the Ulster title but they made short work of Tyrone in the Ulster final and are beginning to capitalize on the county’s recent underage and club success.

 

Sligo recovered well from a heavy defeat in the Connacht final to account for Kildare in the Qualifiers and they will take a new confidence into the clash with Monaghan on the ground where they won a Junior All Ireland title.

 

TG4 Senior Championship Quarter Finals:

Saturday 16th August, 2008

 

Croke Park: Monaghan v Sligo; 12.15 (K Tighe)

Croke Park: Kerry v Mayo; 2.00pm (B Gallagher)

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