Mayo manager Liam McHale said they paid the price for not taking their chances as their relegation from Division 1 of the Lidl National Football League was confirmed when they went down by 2-13 to 1-6 away to Waterford.
“We got well beaten,” said McHale, whose side trailed by 1-8 to 1-0 at the break. “We had 12 wides, had six goal chances. Our conversion rate in front of goal is not there yet. It’s very frustrating. I’m very disappointed with all of the chances we squandered.
“We had a load of goal chances. You take one or two of them, and you’re back in the game. We just couldn’t do it, and that’s been the trend all year; we’ve just struggled to score.”
They will be joined in Division 2 next season by Tyrone who lost their top flight status when they lost to Kildare by 4-10 to 2-8.
Róisín Byrne got a second half hat-trick for Kildare after Aoife Murnane found the net in the opening half.
“We had ten wides in the first half and we were inside their ’45 twenty-six times and we had seven scores out of it,” said Kildare manager Pat Sullivan. “The difference was we got turned over and conceded five scores from those turnovers. We just needed to be patient. We were demanding the game but we weren’t just finishing on the scoreboard. The message at half time was go back to our basics.”
Chloe McCaffrey’s goal helped Tyrone lead by 1-4 to 1-3 at the interval but Kildare dominated after the restart and Aoife McGahan’s late goal was just a consolation score for the Ulster side.
“We felt we were going well at half-time, we were defending well, we were shutting them down and forcing Kildare to snatch shots,” said Tyrone manager Darren McCann. “Half time probably came at the wrong time. When you are playing top teams, you can’t afford to be switched off an any stage but I can’t fault our girls’ effort. They went to the well to the very end. It would have been easy to stop but our girls didn’t and they haven’t done that throughout the league.”
The 2025 Lidl NFL Division 1 finalists, both of whom had qualified for the decider before the final round, lost with reigning champions Armagh going down by 2-12 to 4-5 to Meath. Kelly Mallon with 1-3 and goals from Aoife McCoy, Niamh Coleman and Caoimhe McNally were not enough to deny Meath a fourth win with Emma Duggan shooting 1-9.
“I don’t know how many debuts were made today so it was disappointing in one aspect but pleasing in others to see girls who have worked hard over the last few months actually get a chance to wear the jersey for Armagh,” said joint manager Darnell Parkinson.
The TG4 All-Ireland SFC holders Kerry lost by 2-12 to 2-10 to Dublin in Tralee. Goals from Chloe Darby and Eilish O’Dowd helped Dublin lead by 2-6 to 1-3 at the break, with Julia Curtin getting the goal for the Kingdom. Siofra O’Shea got the second goal for a Kerry side who made nine changes at the break.
“We said to the girls straight afterwards that it’s over with now and we’ll prepare for the next couple of weeks for a tough challenge against a top team and we’ve four or five training sessions to get into us now to prepare us for Croke Park in two weeks’ time,” said Kerry manager Mark Bourke.
Galway and Cork, the two sides who made the drop last season, wrapped up their campaigns with victories having already been promoted from Division 2.
Galway finished their campaign with a seventh successive win when they ousted Clare by 4-22 to 0-5 with Shauna Hynes, Kate Slevin, Olivia Divilly and Eva Noone getting the goals,
Cork made it six wins from seven with a 1-8 to 0-8 win over Donegal, while a goal from Aishling Moloney helped Tipperary defeat Roscommon by 1-12 to 0-10.
The loss sees Roscommon join Clare in returning to Division 3 a year after they met in the final in that division.
Westmeath guaranteed their Division 2 status with a 2-11 to 0-13 win over Monaghan with Caoimhe Kilmurray and Gráinne Byrne getting the goals.
Cavan will play Wexford in this year’s Lidl NFL Division 3 final, while there will be an Ulster pairing in the Division 4 final after Fermanagh defeated Sligo by 5-12 to 3-13, while Antrim saw off Leitrim by 5-8 to 3-10 in the other semi-final.
“We’ve new girls into the panel this year; we have a new way of playing,” said Fermanagh manager CJ McGourty after a game where Eimear Smyth scored 1-8. “It’s a great game behind us. Sligo gave us some thinking to do in terms of different aspects of our play. Also we weren’t brilliant in every single department and that allows you for a wee bit of scope for improvement moving forward which is great.”
Antrim manager Michael Devlin was delighted they reached the final, even if there is plenty of room for improvement. “We came in with a purpose for every game and we prepared like we did for every game. The girls played three different games today. One where they were fluid. One where they had to dig deep. One where they conceded three soft goals but they didn’t drop their heads.”
Lidl NFL Div 1 Final – Armagh v Kerry. Relegated – Mayo and Tyrone
Lidl NFL Div 2 Final – Galway v Cork. Relegated – Roscommon and Clare
Lidl NFL Div 3 Final – Cavan v Wexford. Relegated – Carlow and Offaly.
Lidl NFL Div 4 Final – Fermanagh v Antrim
Lidl National Football League Division One Round Seven
Dublin 2-12 Kerry 2-10
Kildare 4-10 Tyrone 2-8
Meath 2-12 Armagh 4-5
Waterford 2-13 Mayo 1-6
Lidl National Football League Division Two Round Seven
Cork 1-8 Donegal 0-8
Galway 4-22 Clare 0-5
Westmeath 2-11 Monaghan 0-13
Tipperary 1-12 Roscommon 0-10
Lidl National Football League Division Three Round Seven
Louth 7-12 Offaly 1-8
Cavan 0-10 Limerick 0-9
Down win v Carlow
Wexford 3-09 Laois 0-10
Lidl National Football League Division Four Semi Finals
Fermanagh 5-12 Sligo 3-13
Antrim 5-08 Leitrim 3-10
