7 Up Mayo have too much fizz for Club All-Stars
Rory Brickenden of Mayo challenges and Aidan O’Shea, who lined out for the Club All-Stars, in last Saturday's charity match at the Connacht GAA Air Dome in aid of the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association. Picture: Conor McKeown
Mayo might have had 24 points to spare over their Club All-Stars rivals, but charity was the real winner as a bumper crowd turned out for Saturday’s match in aid of the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association, played indoors at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence.
Truth be told, you had to remind yourself at times who was playing for who, as six men who are or have been Mayo regulars featured in the green and red of the Club All-Stars while six ‘uncapped’ players appeared in the red and green of Mayo. But ultimately the scoreboard didn’t lie, as the greater collective strength of Kevin McStay’s county panel shone through, with four first-half goals helping to nail their superiority at an early stage.
Four of the Mayo team who had started the last competitive match, July’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Dublin, were on the pitch at throw-in here, with Jordan Flynn and Eoghan McLaughlin on the county side and Aidan O’Shea and Sam Callinan togging for the club select. Cillian O’Connor and Donnacha McHugh, who were sprung from the bench against the Dubs, also started this match, both for Mayo, with McHugh partnering Flynn at midfield and O’Connor one of the team’s seven players to hit the net.
For much of the opening half there had been little indication of just how one-sided this affair would become. The Mayo SFC’s top scorer, Evan Regan, had kicked three points by the eleventh minute, including two exquisite efforts from play, one off his lesser used right boot. Combined with Jack Carney’s opener, that had the Club All-Stars a point ahead, as a couple of brilliant defensive blocks by Conor Beirne and Aaron Timlin denied the Ballina pairing of Conor McStay and Frank Irwin from picking off a couple of early Mayo scores.
However, goals by Paul Towey and Jordan Flynn, in the twelfth and eighteenth minutes, eventually gave Mayo a firm grip. Towey’s was the result of a move worked in from the left corner by McStay and O’Connor while Flynn’s was laid on a plate by the combined efforts of Irwin, Towey and McHugh.
Credit to the Club All-Stars though, a raft of points, by Luke Feeney, a mark, Diarmuid Duffy, his Ballinrobe clubmate Kevin Quinn, a mark, and Bob Tuohy, meant that after 28 minutes the margin was back down to three points, 2-5 to 0-8, and the Combine boys might even have been level had Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly not dived left to superbly thwart fellow Breaffy man Aidan O’Shea from fisting a booming Jack Carney delivery to the net.
But the club pick, managed on the day by Niall Heffernan, John Reilly and Eddie Conroy, were brutally undone in the closing minutes of the first-half as the lively Tom O’Flaherty added Mayo’s third goal and Cillian O’Connor their fourth, in between points by Conor Reid and Conor McStay. Moy Davitts’ attacker Reid was one of several new faces to the Mayo set-up and the wing-forward impressed with much of his link-up play, adding another point in the second-half before having a direct hand in the creation of late goals by Paddy Durcan and Eoghan McLaughlin. Just as impressive however, were Bob Tuohy and Kevin Quinn for the chasers, kicking two glorious points just before the break, to leave their side nine points in arrears, 4-7 to 0-10.
Quinn opened the second-half with his best point yet, off his left from the left wing, and it marked the start of a third quarter that was an even affair, with Regan, Quinn and Tuohy all adding to their tallies, but Mayo substitutes Ryan O’Donoghue and Conal Dawson also launched what would be impressive cameos by the Belmullet and Westport duo.
In fact, Dawson had struck three long-range beauties within ten minutes of his 44th minute introduction, while a 49th minute goal by fellow sub, Kuba Callaghan, marked the start of a phenomenal run of scores by Kevin McStay’s side. Ryan O’Donoghue struck three more points, including two from play, and Callaghan, Flynn and O’Flaherty one apiece, all before Paddy Durcan and Eoghan McLaughlin broke forward from defence to smash stoppage time goals past Peter Basquille, who had earlier replaced Luke Jennings between the sticks.
Two late points by Conor O’Donoghue and a fifth by the excellent Kevin Quinn were a mark of the never-say-die spirit that the Club All-Stars displayed throughout, but the work which the Mayo squad has already got through in advance of this month’s FBD League and National League campaigns was simply too much for the underdogs to contend with on this occasion.
Scorers – Mayo: Tom O’Flaherty and Kuba Callaghan 1-2 each, Paul Towey, Jordan Flynn and Paddy Durcan 1-1 each, Cillian O’Connor and Eoghan McLaughlin 1-0 each, Ryan O’Donoghue 0-4 (2m), Conal Dawson 0-3, Frank Irwin, Conor McStay and Conor Reid 0-2 each.
Club All-Stars: Kevin Quinn 0-5 (4f), Evan Regan 0-4 (1m), Bob Tuohy 0-3, Conor O’Donoghue 0-2, Jack Carney, Diarmuid Duffy and Luke Feeney (m) 0-1 each.
Mayo: Rob Hennelly; Ciaran Boland, Rory Brickenden, Ruairí Keane; Tomás Fahy, Conor Hunt, Eoghan McLaughlin; Jordan Flynn, Donnacha McHugh; Conor Reid, Frank Irwin, Tom O’Flaherty; Conor McStay, Cillian O’Connor, Paul Towey. Subs used (in order of appearance): Ryan O’Donoghue, Paddy Durcan, Aaron McDonnell, David Dolan (gk), Eoin O’Donoghue, Sean Morahan, Kuba Callaghan, Conal Dawson.
Club All-Stars: Luke Jennings; Aaron Timlin, Basil McLeod, Conor Beirne; Sam Callinan, Stephen Staunton, Fenton Kelly; Jack Carney, Conor O’Shea; Bob Tuohy, Ethan Henry, Diarmuid Duffy; Evan Regan, Aidan O’Shea, Luke Feeney. Subs used (in order of appearance): Kevin Quinn, John MacMonagle, Conor O’Donoghue, Darragh Keaveney, Peter Basquille (gk).
REF: Liam Devenney (Ballina)
