Relief the feeling for White as Donegal come away with a narrow win in Mayo

Donegal forward Susanne White admitted that relief was the main feeling after their 0-9 to 0-8 win over Mayo in Swinford on Sunday.

With Donegal leading by three points by the 57th minute in a low-scoring affair, it looked like they would have had enough to take the win with a strong wind advantage in their favour.

But Mayo made it a one-point game in the third minute of added time, and Aoife Staunton had a chance to level the game with the last kick of the match, but her attempt went narrowly wide as the final whistle sounded, with some of the Donegal players slumping to the ground in exhaustion after hanging on.

“We’re relieved, probably more than anything,” the Killybegs woman said after the game.

“I think we controlled the game very well in the second half, but we knew it wasn’t going to be pretty, and it was very tough conditions out there.

“Mayo were going well as well, but we came out with the win, and that’s the most important thing.”

White had an early goal chance in the match against the wind that was saved, something Donegal had been prolific in so far this season, with seven goals to their name.

But it wasn’t a day for goals, and they were just happy to keep them out at the other end in the first half, where they were up against it but only trailed by 0-5 to 0-3.

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“I probably didn’t expect to get up as far as I did, and it was a great save, but thankfully, we kind of parked that.

“Against the wind in the first half, we only conceded five points, so we were content enough going in at halftime.

“We missed a lot of chances ourselves, but I think our response in the second half was the difference there, especially just straight after half-time.”

And with the wind in the second half, Donegal hit their first two pointers of the year, one from a White free and another from play through Ciara McGarvey with a superb laces effort, while Jodie McFadden landed two frees.

“We haven’t got one all year, and then two came at the same time, and they really counted there near the end.

“It was a great one by Ciara, especially from play. Then Jodie McFadden stepped up and took a few free kicks, which all counted, especially in these conditions, it’s hard to score in play at times.”