John West Féile Ambassador and Mayo footballer Danielle Caldwell during the launch of the John West Féile 2024 at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Mayo ladies football star, Danielle Caldwell, has only good things to say about the impact Liam McHale has made since taking charge of the team.
A coach with the Mayo men’s team last year, McHale has succeeded Michael Moyles as the ladies team manager this year and, according to Caldwell, is encouraging them to play an attacking brand of football.
“It's been amazing,” said Caldwell yesterday at the launch of the John West Féile 2024.
“Obviously we had Michael for the last three years and he did amazing work with us so we have a really good foundation, a good base.
“Yeah, Liam has brought in his team and it's obviously a new perspective on football, a new game-plan. It's very exciting. So, yeah, we're getting on great with him and we're delighted with how smoothly everything has been going so far.
“I suppose his main thing is that we express ourselves and enjoy our football. Which I think is coming through on the pitch.
“And then obviously he's very attack-minded so he wants us to just play what's in front of us and attack. I don't think he loves the defending that you see in the men's game. So we're trying to become an attacking team and it's been enjoyable.”
Mayo’s form has been somewhat mixed in a highly competitive Division 1 of the Lidl Ladies National Football League, with two wins, two losses, and one draw from their five games to date.
Danielle Caldwell of Mayo in action against Emma Costello of Kerry during the TG4 LGFA All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Kerry and Mayo at Semple Stadium in Thurles, Tipperary. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
It means with two rounds to go they’re still in the hunt for a place in the final, but aren’t out of the relegation picture either just yet.
The margins are so fine that every game in Round 6 this weekend will have a big bearing on both ends of the table.
“Yeah, huge pressure,” says Caldwell. “You can definitely see that the league is kind of gone up a notch even this year compared to last year. I think even the level of skill and the level of playing has improved greatly.
“But yeah, huge pressure, I think we’re fourth from bottom and we’re still not safe. We need to win one of our remaining two games to be safe so yeah, there’s huge pressure but also with that comes greater performances for the league, greater entertainment for our spectators.
“And it just makes it more interesting. Hopefully it gets the public engaged in ladies football. So yeah, I think the league has been very positive this year.”
Sunday’s opponents, Armagh, are the only team to have won all five of their League games so far, and Caldwell is expecting another tough test from a team that have always been tricky opponetns.
“I would say that they're a really quick team, their transition is very quick. They have fast players. Lauren McConville is very quick, I know Blaithin [Mackin] is injured at the moment but she's pretty quick and you obviously have a marquee forward like Aimee Mackin that's probably going to require two people to mark her.
“They have a really fast transition. We have played them a few times, it's probably even in the amount of times I've played them - they've beat us, we've beat them. They're just a fast, transitional team.
“Obviously we're just focusing on ourselves, on our small KPIs, just keep improving as games come in.
“But, yeah, Armagh will be an interesting challenge. It'll be exciting to see where we're at.”
