Whole Mayo ladies saga has finally come to an end

Finally, a line looks to have been drawn in the sand.

It was four months ago when the Mayo ladies saga first came into the public sphere. On July 10, 12 players left the Mayo panel just days before they would take on Cavan in the first round of the championship.

“We have stepped away from the Mayo panel for player welfare issues that are personal and sensitive to the players involved. Out of respect to the girls playing at the weekend and ourselves, we will not be commenting further. We wish the Mayo team well with their game on Saturday," read their statement.

After a statement that carried such weight, of course these players had to comment further. Since then, the dispute has descended into a bitter back and forth between the departed players, the Mayo county board and the team's management. Mayo ladies manager Peter Leahy has defended himself while the players involved have revealed the reasons behind their walk-out. The general consensus after all the bickering is that it surely could have been solved in a more amicable, in-house manner. Because Mayo football was the real loser. The team was without some of its best players for the championship this year and the camp was split. The county board was in a standoff with a number of their own players for ages. The furore that followed their decision to walk away wasn't good for the players themselves as they were criticised for over-reacting in the first place. Seeing as the majority of players who'd left the panel were from Carnacon, that club - the All-Ireland champions of 2017 were always going to be in the thick of it all. The Mayo county board acted quickly by throwing them out of the Mayo championship. They were sharply re-instated before the eight players involved were given four week bans. Skipping almost five appeals and four more statements, the four week ban was halved to two by the LGFA National Appeals' Committee last Monday - only for the Mayo county board to uphold their appeal against this. That appeal was denied, meaning the eight players' ban will end on Thursday night - so now they can play in their county semi-final against Moy Davitts at the weekend. Now can we all move on with our lives? ________________________________________________________________________