It was celebration time in Parnell Park on Saturday evening as the CBE sponsored Mayo Ladies team landed the league crown after defeating their near neighbours Galway.

The following article is taken from The Western People, Tuesday 15^th May 2012

Vintage victory sends Mayo soaring

Bord Gais Energy Ladies NFL Division 2 – Final

Mayo               4-17

Galway            2-7

Report by Michael Gallagher at Parnell Park, Dublin

Mayo are back! That was the clear and unmistakable message echoing around Parnell Park on Saturday evening. The Green and Red demolished Galway to secure a return to the top tier of football in the country and announced to all and sundry that they are becoming a force in the sport once again.

Determination, defiance and hard-working football decorated their display and although the scoreline might suggest it, there was nothing easy about Saturday’s encounter with their nearest and dearest rivals.

Galway started like a rocket leaving the launch-pad and surged into an early lead. They were playing with verve and vigour and repeatedly found avenues through the Green and Red’s defensive lines. Then, Mayo found their rhythm and ground their way back into the game. They had balanced the scores by half-time and there was no stopping them in the second half as the points streamed over the bar and the goals put the icing on the cake.

The fact that Mayo had to do this without the services of their captain, Claire Egan, who was sin-binned in the first half and sent off in the second period says a lot about the quality of their work. I cannot comment on the sin-binning as the offence occurred off the ball, but the second punishment was absolutely incorrect.

The incident just about merited the awarding of a free to Galway, but the officials may have been swayed by the dramatically vociferous reactions of a section of the attendance. 

That grouping had much to shout about in the opening four minutes when Galway kicked a goal and two points. Ger Conneally and Tracey Leonard raised the white flags while a drive straight through the middle yielded a goal when Deirdre Brennan ghosted in behind the advancing defenders and planted the ball past Aisling Tarpey.

Moments later, Conneally could have hit another goal, but her effort came back off the woodwork and Mayo breathed again.

Deirdre Doherty got Mayo off the mark after six minutes but Galway were still in the ascendancy and points arrived from Conneally and Gillian Joyce to leave the scoreboard reading 1-4 to 0-1 after 12 minutes.

Mayo needed to stop the rot and they begun to do so. Yvonne Byrne, who was deployed in a defensive role, began to win ball while Martha Carter and Ciara McMenamon started to gain a foothold in midfield as Fiona McHale and Deirdre Doherty worked tirelessly upfront.

Cora Staunton won a huge amount of possession and when she kicked her first point after 16 minutes, she was beginning a display that will always have a place in the memory. The Carnacon star was on fire and Galway had no answer to her.

The scores were level 0-8 to 1-5 at the break as Mayo asserted their authority but it must be said that Galway were unfortunate not to have been awarded a penalty just before the break. Conneally slalomed through and was dragged down by Tarpey, but the referee deemed that the Galway lady had over-carried.

Aileen Gilroy was added to the Mayo fold late in the first half and she played a major part in the second half as the Green and Red cut loose. They didn’t give Galway any platform on which to build attacks and on the odd occasion that the ball did advance towards the Mayo posts, Noelle Tierney and her colleagues snapped it up.

Staunton and McHale put their team in front for the first time early in the new half before Triona McNicholas shook the net to leave Mayo 1-9 to 1-5 clear after 37 minutes.

Egan was dismissed two minutes later for an offence that was minor in the extreme, but that harsh call only served to galvanise the leaders and they set about securing the title in determined fashion.

Staunton became even more prominent and when Doherty and Sarah Rowe created an opening after 46 minutes she raced through and slotted home another goal. A stream of points followed and when a Staunton effort dropped in the square after 54 minutes, Fiona McHale was on hand to punch it to the net to copper-fasten the victory.

The icing was firmly placed on the cake 60 seconds later when Staunton danced through for another goal and the issue was well and truly decided.

Galway did launch a few late flurries and despite the best efforts of Tarpey, Edel Concannon bundled home a goal in the dying moments, but the day belonged to Mayo as they announced their return to the good times and the years of disappointment and frustration fell away.