Rusty Mayo come through Sligo challenge
Ben Edeh gets over Sligo/Leitrim’s Bradley Fowley. Pictures: John Corless
Mayo could, and should have, won this by more. But manager Joe Kelly will settle for 4-1 on the road and knows what he has to do to deal with Galway in the second round of the Oscar Traynor Cup when they meet in Umbro Park on November 10.
Mayo went into this game without any warm-up match and this rustiness was evident for the 90 minutes. They were always the better team but made hard work of disposing of a very honest and organised Sligo/Leitrim side. For an hour, Mayo played through the congested middle and never found their flair. It’s results that count, however, and despite not playing to their best, Mayo were always in control of this match.
“If we were offered a 4-1 win before we left home, we’d have taken it,” Joe Kelly told the . “But the performance was patchy and we have a lot of work to do, over the next few weeks. We created a lot of chances and we to be more clinical.” The home side pushed up for the first ten minutes, but their two shots from Jordan Harte never really threatened Stefan Hester’s goal.
At the other end, Jason Hunt put two crosses too close to the keeper and Jordan Loftus was unlucky with a rebound when Sligo/Leitrim failed to clear an attack. Niall Brennan nodded one down but Loftus couldn’t connect and Ioseph O’Reilly headed over from a cross by Darren Browne.
Mayo had a chance when Sligo/Leitrim goalkeeper Ronan Callaghan had to handle a back-pass from defender Bryan Lynch. The ’keeper picked up a yellow and Jason Hunt sent the free to the right, but Loftus’s shot lacked the necessary power.
Loftus put Mayo one up when he got the last touch in a goalmouth scramble on 18 minutes. Hunt had a tame shot saved as well as putting a cross too close to the goalkeeper. Oran Groarke sent one straight to the ’keeper too while Hester collected Sligo/Leitrim’s first corner on 36 minutes.
Sligo/Leitrim had a right go immediately after the break. They pushed up on Mayo but the solid defence limited them to a Donal Gallagher shot before Mayo broke and won a corner. Jason Hunt tapped in from the back post on 53 minutes to put Mayo two up.
Three minutes later, Mark McGoldrick set up Donagh Crowne and the former Ballina Town man drove a solid shot to the net. Mayo looked a bit ragged for a few minutes but settled again.
Eoin Stinchon was unlucky for Sligo/Leitrim, and his teammate, Bradley Fowley’s shot was a millimetre wide. Hunt sent a cross over but Ben Edeh couldn’t connect.
Hunt was upended in the box by Sligo/Leitrim captain Mark Hannon on 69 minutes and when Loftus slotted home the penalty to make it 3-1, the game was over.
Substitute Johnny Cocozza was outstanding when he came on. Mayo had a number of chances and will need a better conversion rate against Galway. Jack O’Connor, another substitute, had two chances before he got Mayo’s fourth with two minutes remaining. Scoreable chances fell too, to Cocozza, Edeh and Mark Cunningham.
“I thought we were poor in the first half,” team captain, Jordan Loftus told the . “But we were the better side in the second half and we had more effective substitutes than they did. You could tell we didn’t have a practice game. We needed this match. We cleared away the cobwebs.
“Everyone in our squad is as good as the next so we have that strength on the bench, which is testament to the calibre of footballers in Mayo. We need to up our game now for Galway.”
Hester made an excellent save and looked the business throughout. The backline of Cillian McGade, Ioseph O’Reilly, Mark Cunningham and man of the match, Harrison Quinn, was solid throughout. Oran Groarke in the holding midfield role was excellent. Brennan and Browne got caught up in the packed middle, and Edeh and Loftus were solid up front. Jason Hunt was Mayo’s main threat and it was only late in the game when they started to push the ball wide to him. He was a constant threat.
Joe Kelly brought in Johnny Cocozza, Cathal Coyne, Jack O’Connor, Nathan Reilly-Doyle and Kevin Kitterick – an impressive bench from which to draw. Kelly will be pleased all his charges came through the encounter without picking up injuries and the combination of the warm day and the plastic pitch will sharpen up his side, who have a month to prepare for what will be a very stiff test.
