CORK 1-20 MAYO 0-11
All-conquering Cork retained their Bord Gáis Energy Ladies National Football League Division 1 crown as they comprehensively defeated Mayo by 1-20 to 0-11 in Saturday’s Kiltoom decider.
The Munster and All-Ireland champions collected the league title for the fourth time in five seasons as they recorded a 12-point victory against the outclassed Westerners.
Cork completely dominated this tie from start to finish and the second half was exhibition stuff from the Rebelettes.
The Leesiders, who started with the breeze, could even afford the luxury of ten first half wides as they opened up a 1-10 to 0-4 half-time lead.
Rhona Buckley, a late replacement for Amy O’Shea on the Cork team, scored the 17th-minute goal and the St Finbarr’s player could have netted twice more in the opening half.
Yvonne Byrne denied the full-forward with a superb save after 12 minutes before Buckley rattled the crossbar less than a minute after raising the green flag.
Mayo could have given themselves a fighting chance ahead of the second half but leading scorer Cora Staunton scuffed a penalty wide six minutes before the break.
Cork cruised to victory in the second period as outstanding player of the match Nollaig Cleary added four points to take her match tally to six.
DOWN 2-12 TIPPERARY 0-11
In the Division 2 decider, Down defeated Tipperary by 2-12 to 0-11 as the inspirational Aileen Pyers finished with the player of the match award.
Last year’s All-Ireland intermediate champions Tipp could never fully recover from a blistering Down start as the Mourne County struck for two goals within the opening four minutes.
The influential Michaela Downey found the net after just 18 seconds and when the Clonduff star was denied a second in the fourth minute by Tipp goalkeeper Nora Noonan, Kyla Trainor finished the loose ball from close range.
To their credit, Tipp fought their way back into contention and trailed by just four points at half-time, 2-5 to 0-7, but they suffered a second half blow when full-back Maeve Corcoran received a yellow card and was sin-binned for ten minutes.
In that spell, the lethal Pyers helped herself to four points and any hopes of a late Tipp revival were dashed when captain Jennifer Grant missed an injury-time penalty.
ROSCOMMON 1-12 WICKLOW 1-08
Meanwhile, Roscommon were crowned Division 3 champions after defeating Wicklow by 1-12 to 1-8.
Emer Casey was the star turn for the Rossies on home soil with a 1-5 haul, 1-2 before half-time as the newly-crowned champions opened up a 1-6 to 0-4 interval lead.
Casey could have added a second goal in the 53rd minute but after substitute Cliodhna McHugh was fouled, the Ballinameen forward drilled the resultant penalty over the crossbar.
Despite finishing on the losing side, Wicklow midfielder and goalscorer Caoilfhionn Deeney collected the player of the match award and the Garden County made a real fight of in the second half as on three occasions, they came within a point of the winners.
