Agony in Omagh as Mayo denied at death by Red Hands
Kobe McDonald takes on defender Niall Devlin in Mayo's clash with Tyrone in Round 2A of the All-Ireland SFC at O'Neill's Healy Park, Omagh. Pictures: INPHO/Tom O’Hanlon
A second championship defeat of the summer means that Mayo are in last chance saloon next weekend, with the Green and Red probably right to feel just a little sore about their one point defeat away to Tyrone on Sunday.
A second-half point awarded to the home side had appeared well wide of the target and the match-winning two-point free struck by Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan, with only 95 seconds left on the clock, was arguably awarded in the wrong direction by referee Brendan Cawley.
Ultimately, however, Mayo were left to rue scoring only one of numerous goal chances on a gloriously sunny afternoon in Omagh, and it perhaps should never have come down to substitute Aidan O’Shea kicking a late equalising opportunity short into the arms of Morgan.
The upshot is that Tyrone have qualified automatically for the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals whereas Mayo must win another round next weekend to join them there. Meath, backdoor victors over Derry last Saturday, will provide the opposition in Castlebar.
Mayo paid a heavy price for not coping or addressing the impact made by the aforementioned McCurry, who ended as the game’s top scorer. His disputed point included, the 45th minute substitute gave Mayo captain Jack Coyne a torrid time and had raised six white flags within 20 minutes of his introduction, a pair of frees included.
The sides had been level on eight occasions before a 53rd minute goal by Darragh Beirne potentially put Mayo in the driving seat, as the Connacht men led 1-14 to 0-15. Tyrone had already produced last-ditch blocks to deny substitute Paul Towey and Darragh Beirne before that, with the ever-menacing Beirne also thwarted by scrambled defending in a first-half that saw Jordan Flynn blast a shot straight at Morgan.
Flynn blazed another goal chance over the crossbar in the 58th minute and the game was still all-square in the 67th when Sam Callinan raided forward and opted to fist Mayo back in front, when a definite goal chance existed.
Callinan’s might have looked the sensible option but enough time remained for Niall Morgan to belt over an equalising ’45 (the tenth time the sides were level) before what looked like a charge into substitute Aidan O’Shea, who was floored as a result, by Tyrone wing-back Michael McKernan, saw ref Cawley instead award the free to the hosts. There was nothing straightforward about Morgan brilliantly firing over from outside the arc on the left wing and while Mayo worked themselves a chance to draw level, O’Shea was unable to mark his 101st championship appearance in heroic style. 31 seconds had remained on the clock so Mayo would have been better to work the ball to a more competent shooter, with the full-forward line of Darragh Beirne, Ryan O’Donoghue and Kobe McDonald again delivering on the day, scoring 1-10 between them.
At the other end of the championship spectrum to O’Shea, Eoin McGreal was handed his first taste by manager Andy Moran – plus the not so inconsiderable task of marking highly-rated Tyrone corner-forward Eoin McElholm, which he did with aplomb. The Garrymore U20 started in place of Diarmuid Duffy while in the only other change from victory in Monaghan, Paddy Durcan began instead of Stephen Coen, with Jack Carney and Jordan Flynn forming the midfield partnership.
The teams had gone point for point until a run of three by Durcan, McDonald and O’Donoghue saw Mayo move into a 0-7 to 0-5 lead after 24 minutes. McElholm, with his solitary point of the game, and Ronan Cassidy, with his third, levelled matters, and that was the situation at half-time too, 0-8 apiece, after a late exchange between Darragh Beirne and Conn Kilpatrick. It was the Tyrone midfielder’s second of the half and a definite goal chance, as he followed the flight of Michael McKernan’s delivery and fisted inches over the crossbar in the very last play of the half.
The very lively Enda Hession had kicked two first-half points, likewise Beirne, both doing so off either foot, while O’Donoghue fired over a brace too, but where Tyrone had kicked six wides to Mayo’s three, the locals improved their accuracy greatly in the third quarter.
What could have been a bright Mayo start to the second-half that instead saw Ryan O’Donoghue hit an upright and then misplace a handpass which could have left Kobe McDonald with a clean shot at goal, instead saw Tyrone put some daylight between the sides.
The game’s first two-pointer, scored by Jack Carney, did negate singles by Ronan Cassidy and Ciaran Daly, however, Ethan Jordan, after two long-range misses in the first-half, nailed a ’45 awarded after Mayo goalkeeper Jack Livingstone had produced a superb save to thwart the same player a goal, in the 44th minute.
Jordan was replaced by McCurry, who immediately kicked back-to-back points which moved the Red Hands into a 0-13 to 0-10 advantage. McCurry’s first was from a free but his second, from play, struck from the terrace side, looked at least a foot outside the near post.
Mayo’s management responded to their situation, introducing Tommy Conroy and Paul Towey to the attack, and the pair hit the ground running to truly help Mayo take the game to their hosts.
O’Donoghue and McCurry traded frees before Kobe McDonald played a give-and-go with Donnacha McHugh and swerved over a two-pointer to leave the minimum between the teams, with 51-minutes on the clock.
Tyrone full-back Peter Teague carefully kicked the first of his two second-half points but Mayo quickly went from two down to two ahead, as a point by Tommy Conroy, just after a double block had denied Towey and Beirne from shaking the net, preceded Darragh Beirne finally making the breakthrough, running onto Towey’s pass and wrong-footing Morgan with a cool left-footed finish. It was the Claremorris youngster’s third goal of his debut season but first in the senior championship.
There was no holding the two-footed Darren McCurry, however, and three more stunning points by the substitute, all in a seven minute window, and Teague’s second, had the sides all square again (1-16 to 0-19), after Jordan Flynn saw another goal chance fly over Morgan’s crossbar at the opposite end before Conroy earned a free for O’Donoghue to tap over.
The final five minutes were frantic. Mayo nudged ahead when gifted a free by Teague who landed a needless late hit on McDonald. O’Donoghue’s conversion was negated by a ’45 from Morgan whose subsequent two-point free in response to Sam Callinan’s fisted lead-giver proved the decisive score.
