14-man Donegal overtaken by Mayo’s second-half surge

All-Ireland U20 ‘B’ Hurling Championship Quarter-Final 

Mayo 2-10 

Donegal 0-14 

At O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny 

Showing tremendous levels of resolve, Mayo made sure their long trip to Letterkenny was a worthwhile on Saturday last when they came from behind to claim a hard-fought win over Donegal in the quarter-finals of the Richie McElligott Cup The hosts had looked much the better side in the opening half at O’Donnell Park, and by half-time had raised twice as many flags as Mayo even if they only led by two points, 0-8 to 1-3. The superb free-taking of Donegal wing-forward Brendan Gaffey had been one of the key differences between the teams. Indeed Mayo had to defend ferociously for long stretches of the first-half and great credit had to go to the back six for helping to keep their team in the game.

Taking a lot longer to settle to their task were the Mayo forwards who found scoring chances difficult to come by and when they did create openings, some wayward shooting from the half-forward line seemed to rock the Green and Red’s confidence early on.

Eventually, however, the visitors did begin to settle and Ronan Fallon, the Mayo full-forward, led by example. He struck all three of Mayo’s first-half points, two of them from difficult frees, and he acted as the fulcrum for every Mayo attack with his power and ball-winning ability particularly crucial.

Aiding Mayo’s challenge was that Donegal had been dealt a hammer blow after only 20 minutes when corner-forward Eoghan Walsh received his marching orders after two clumsy fouls right in front of referee Colm McDonald. The Antrim official had no choice but to flash two yellow cards in quick succession.

Mayo sensed their opportunity and right on the stoke of half-time Colm Enright pounced for a brilliant individual goal. The Castlebar clubman had loads of work to do when he collected possession on the left wing. He jinked past two defenders before flicking the sliothar over the outrushing Donegal custodian Joseph Patton and into the net.

The second-half produced more drama with Mayo getting their noses in front for the first time. Ronan Fallon drove a piledriver of a shot into the Donegal net in the 40th minute and further points from Sean McGee, Enright and Eoin Ryan had Mayo in the driving seat. Or so it seemed.

Donegal were about to embark on a Lazarus-like finish from Donegal, as points by Brendan Gaffey, Dáire Tully and Gaffey again levelled the scores with time almost up. Mayo, however, had one more roll of the dice and two sublime scores from Colm Enright, one a first time volley, saw them over the line at the finish. It was a superb game of hurling with both sides showcasing wonderful skill.

Mayo’s reward is a place in the semi-final where they will play Roscommon who emerged three-point winners from their Connacht derby with Sligo on Saturday.

Scorers – Mayo: Colm Enright 1-5, Ronan Fallon 1-3, James Byrne and Sean McGee 0-1 each.

Doonegal: Brendan Gaffey 0-11, Daire Tully 0-3.

Donegal: Joseph Patton; Joseph Duddy, Cormac Hanlon, JP Curran; Evan McFadden, Conor Neely, Fionn Farren; Peter Kelly, Donal Farrelly; Brendan Caffey, Daire Tully, Aidan McKinney; Ciaran Porter, Johnny Lambe, Eoghan Walsh. Sub used: Callum Purves.

Mayo: Brian O’Donovan; Conor Ketterick, Michael Foody, Anthony Rowland; Joe O’Donnell, Matthew Connor, Aidan McGing; Sean McGee, Lucas Kenny; Fiachra Glavey, Eoghan Ketterick, Eoin Ryan; Colm Enwright, Ronan Fallon, James Byrne. Subs used: Mark Jordan, Joe O’Donnell, Sean Geraghty, Jake Glavey, Sean Lynskey.

REF: Colm McDonald (Antrim)