TG4 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship qualifier:
Mayo 4-15 Tyrone 0-3
TYRONE exited the All-Ireland Senior Championship after a heavy 24-point defeat to Mayo in Ballinamore on Saturday afternoon.
The Ulster side managed just three points over the 60 minutes while, once again, Cora Staunton grabbed the headlines, scoring 2-10 of her team’s tally as the beaten Connacht finalists laid down their intentions of making it a long summer in the race for the Brendan Martin Cup.
While Tyrone’s management team will reflect on the game and their entire season over the coming days and weeks, their immediate concern will be for their captain Neamh Woods, who was stretchered off with what looked to be a neck injury after falling awkwardly as she went for a ball on the sideline three minutes from time. Fortunately, she was discharged from hospital on Saturday night.
It has been another difficult season for the Red Hands, who have recorded just two wins in 10 games. One of those was a winner-takes-all relegation battle against Laois for the right to stay in Division One and the other their recent provincial quarter-final win over Cavan.
However, it is still very much about rebuilding in Tyrone and they will no doubt take some positives from the year. But it was a disappointing end to the season as they will feel they are better than what they showed against Mayo. That does not take away from a very polished and ruthless Mayo performance.
They dominated the game from start to finish. Staunton, who hit 1-15 in the Connacht final defeat to Galway picked up where she left off, opening the scoring with a point within three minutes.
The nine-time Allstar found the back of the net in the seventh minute after Fiona McHale provided the assist with a defence-splitting pass to put her side 1-1 to no-score ahead as she set the tone for the rest of the game.
She added two frees inside 16 minutes and four more from play before the half-time whistle sounded, with fellow Carnacon stalwart McHale and half-forward Fiona Doherty providing instrumental assistance to manufacture scores.
After three wides from her team, wing half-forward Emma Hegarty got Tyrone’s only score of the half in the 28th minute after a fine individual run but her side had a mountain to climb if they were going to overturn a 1-9 to 0-1 deficit in the second half.
The second half proved to be merely a resumption of the first with Staunton collecting a second goal. McHale and Aoife Brennan also netted as Mayo turned up the heat to burn off Tyrone.
Tyrone’s first score of the second half arrived 20 minutes in, when sub Zoe Loughran raised a white flag. An uncharacteristically quiet Gemma Begley scored her side’s first free in the closing stages but missed another just before full-time as the game petered out to an inevitable conclusion.
Mayo will now face Munster champions Kerry in the All-Ireland quarter-final on Saturday, August 22.
SLIGO booked their place in the All-Ireland intermediate quarter-finals against Waterford after a 2-15 to 2-13 win over fellow Connacht side Roscommon on Saturday.
The previous evening, Clare made sure of their last eight place, but by the minimum, after a 3-7 to 3-6 win over Limerick.
MATCH STATS
Mayo: A Tarpey; M Corbett, S Tierney, M Carter (0-1); O Conlon, D Hughes, R Kearns; H Lohan, F McHale (1-1); F Doherty, Y Byrne (0-1), N Kelly (0-1); A Brennan (1-1), C Staunton (2-10, 0-3 frees), L McManamon; Subs: N O’Malley for McManamon (50), R O’Malley for Brennan (57), J O’Malley for Kearns (62), L Muldoon for A Tarpey (66), C Egan for Kelly (67).
Tyrone: S Lynch; C Muldoon, C Hunter, K Quinn; M Donnelly, S Quinn, A McShane; N O’Neil, N Woods; E Hegarty (0-1), C Donnelly, A McShane; J Donnelly, G Begley (0-1 free), G Rafferty; Subs: Z Loughran (0-1) for McGuigan (43), D McNamee for Muldoon (52), C McCracken for Rafferty (53), E O’Kane for Woods (57), N Carland for Quinn (66).
Referee: K Delahunty (Tipperary)
