Late Galway equaliser spoils Mayo party
Darren Browne and Oran Groarke, right, congratulate Mayo goalscorer Ben Edeh. Pictures: John Corless
Armed with eight Castlebar Celtic men on the starting eleven, Mayo played the risky strategy of sitting back and inviting a hungry Galway side on to them in the second provincial group match of the Oscar Traynor Cup last Sunday.
And it nearly worked. A goal, six minutes into stoppage time denied Mayo back-to-back victories over Galway in the competition. It was a cruel blow for the home side who had defended well under siege, for most of the match. In the end, it was a set piece that was their undoing; this being Galway’s main threat, all day.
“I knew coming in to this game, I was going to be busy,” Mayo goalkeeper Stefan Hester told the . “We knew they had a stronger side than last year, and that it wasn’t going to be an easy game. But we defended very well and restricted their chances.”
Mayo made five changes from last year’s starting eleven; Galway made six from theirs. In a frantic opening, Mayo went in front against the run of play, when Ben Edeh capitalised on poor Galway defending and finished well on 25 minutes. Prior to that Colm Whelan (two) and Timmy Molloy had chances but failed to make them count for Galway. Their biggest chance fell to Padraic Cunningham, one of several ex-League of Ireland men on the Galway side, when he headed over, unmarked, from Aaron Neary’s cross. You’d bet on the big Headford man to put a chance like that away but it wasn’t his day.
Mayo forced three corners in the same period but didn’t threaten from any. Niall Brennan and Darren Browne had half-chances for Mayo before Edeh’s crucial strike. The battle between man of the match, Mayo’s Cathal Coyne, and Cunningham - the old-style battering-ram centre-forward, was playing out as the highlight of a fiercely competitive match.
Galway’s game plan was to attack Mayo on the flanks, where Kody McCann and Colm Whelan were fast and skilful. Mayo’s Cillian McGlade and Mark Cunningham were a match for them however, minimising their clean crosses. Wingers Ben Edeh and the excellent Jason Hunt were deployed deeper, to give Mayo’s defence, a little extra protection.
Galway tore into Mayo in the second half, totally dominating possession. Despite the pressure, Mayo had a glorious chance to close it out; but TJ Forde in the Galway goal bravely denied Edeh in a one-on-one, on 57 minutes. Galway had chances too, mainly from set pieces where Padraic Cunningham, Aaron Neary and Nathan Ward were a constant threat.
Neary, Nathan Ward and substitute, Gerard O’Riordan all came close for Galway in the latter stage so of the second half, before they finally got the goal they deserved when, at the death, Calyn Crowe finished a goalmouth scramble, following a corner, to level it.
“Conditions were very difficult,” Hester added. “The low evening sun was hard to play against and all the corners coming in from that side were very tricky. I’m not making excuses but it was a challenge. We couldn’t see the ball; they couldn’t see the ball. There was no clean contact in any of those crosses from that side.” Mayo manager Joe Kelly said that his side defended really well from open play.
“It’s sickening to concede a goal in the 96th minute,” Kelly told the . “We had the exact game-plan as we had in Galway last year when we won 4-1; our tactic was to let them have the ball and hit them on the counter. It’s small margins. They had as much of the ball last year in Galway as they had today, but the difference was we didn’t have a second goal and the reality was we stared dropping deeper and deeper to protect that single goal lead, as the match went on.”
The problem with Kelly’s strategy was that it depended on hitting the opposition on the breaks like they did in Eamonn Deacy Park last year, when Mayo were three up after 20 minutes. Mayo never had the same fire to them on Sunday as they did a year ago in that fine win. As a result, Galway always had a chance, and only one behind, had a reason to fight on and they kept on fighting. There was an inevitability about the goal.
Mayo haven’t hit their stride yet this year in the competition. They are almost certainly through to the knockout stages, but they will have to be a more potent threat if they are to proceed.
The Mayo defence was excellent throughout. Hester made a few great saves. Ioseph O’Reilly made a number of well-timed tackles in the box, and Cathal Coyne restricted Cunningham to scraps. Another Cunningham, Mayo’s Mark, did a good job on Galway danger-man, Kody McCann.
The visitors had good performances all over the pitch. McCann and Whelan are fine players and Galway are certainly not out of contention in this competition yet. A draw was probably a fair result and Mayo lead the group on goal difference.
