Dublin ladies begin life under new managers with a victory
Ballyboden St Enda’s Rebecca McDonnell was on the scoresheet for the Dubs in Parnell Park Photo by Maurice Grehan

Dublin ladies begin life under new managers with a victory

Rebecca McDonnell and Chloe Darby grabbed goals in either half at Parnell Park as the Dublin Ladies senior team began life under the joint management of Paul Casey (Lucan Sarsfields) and Derek Murray (Round Towers) with a hard-earned 2-7 to 1-7 win over Mayo in the National League.

“We’re delighted. I suppose the first rounds of the national league are never pretty,” said Dublin joint manager Casey.

“In fairness, two teams served up a good battle there and I think it was probably reflective of the short number of weeks that we’ve had with the girls.”

The sides were deadlocked at 1-4 apiece at the break with Rebecca McDonnell finding the net for Dublin and Sinead Walsh responding for Mayo.

A goal from Chloe Darby proved crucial as Dublin made a winning start to the new campaign but Mayo manager Liam McHale lamented they didn’t take chances in the closing stages.

“A couple of our top forwards had good opportunities to score in the fourth quarter and we didn’t take the opportunities,” he said.

“Our effort and the way we apply ourselves is great, but we need to just get a little bit cuter and a little bit wiser around the field and we’ll be good to go.”

Despite the late withdrawal of team captain Carla Rowe – Mayo skipper Danielle Caldwell was also replaced in her side’s starting line-up before throw-in – Dublin raced into an early two-point buffer courtesy of fine scores by Niamh Hetherton and Sophie McIntyre.

While their western counterparts initially struggled to create attacking momentum, they eventually opened their account when full forward Sinead Walsh knocked over an 11th minute free.

Yet despite registering a number of wides in the early stages, Dublin increased their advantage to three points as a result of Jodi Egan and Darby (free) finding the target either side of the first-quarter mark.

Another successful place-ball effort from the reliable Walsh kept Mayo within touching distance, only for the Jackies to create significant daylight when McDonnell smashed the ball to the opposition net from a tight angle on 23 minutes.

However, just when it seemed like Dublin were in control of the contest, their lead was sensationally wiped out after Walsh followed up a brace of frees with a superb 29th minute goal.

This ensured the sides were level at 1-4 apiece during the interval, but Dublin immediately re-established their authority when Darby clinically secured a three-pointer less than 20 seconds after the restart.

Although Mayo gained a temporary numerical advantage when opposition midfielder Grace Kos was sin-binned on 35 minutes, Liam McHale’s charges fell further adrift following unanswered points from Egan and Darby for the Jackies.

Mayo centre half-back Sherin El Massry did kick a fine point for the visitors just before Kos’ return to partly lift the scoring burden off Walsh’s shoulders, but Mayo were subsequently reduced to 14 players themselves inside the final-quarter when Ella Brennan fouled stand-in Dublin skipper Leah Caffrey around the middle-third of the pitch.

Points from Walsh (who finished with an impressive haul of 1-5) and Aoife Geraghty did reduce Mayo’s deficit to two late on, before Darby split the posts off a routine free to put the seal on a Dublin victory.

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