Mayo secure safety with commanding defeat of Donegal
Mayo ensured their top flight status in the Lidl NFL Division 1 when they scored a decisive 13-point victory over Donegal at Letterkenny in a relegation shootout.
Michael Moyles' side were as good as safe by half-time as they held a commanding 16-point lead.
Mayo, who made 17 substitutions over the hour, hit the ground running when Deirdre Doherty’s quick thinking from a close-range free teed up Rachel Kearns to her right and even though the full-forward smacked a post, she still had the time and space to plant home the rebound.
Ciara McGarvey got Donegal off the mark on three minutes but with Lisa Cafferky posting a quickfire brace, the visitors led 1-2 to 0-1 by the seventh minute.
Cafferky then notched her third point before substitute Sinead Walsh, only into the action, squeezed in a second Mayo goal to put eight between the sides after 20 minutes.
With Donegal out of shape at the back, Tamara O’Connor set up Cafferky with a first-time effort and she guided the ball past the advancing Aoife McColgan.
Indeed, but for an excellent stop moments later by McColgan, Aoife Geraghty would have raised a fourth green flag for Mayo.
Mayo did find the net once again before half time when an interception by Deirdre Doherty on a back pass allowed her to fire into the empty net.
Doherty added a free to Mayo’s tally before the break as they turned around with a 4-5 to 0-1 interval lead.
Ella Brennan went close to adding a fifth Mayo goal right at the start of the second-half but she blazed over. A full half hour after their opening point, Donegal finally added a second as McGarvey chipped over a free but Mayo replacement Maria Cannon also lobbed a brace of points at the other end.
Mayo wrapped up the win to ensure their safety with a fifth