Big Apple chewed up as Ryan books Ros’ rematch
Mayo's Stephen Coen and New York's Emmett O'Conghaile collide.
New York, old story.
A sixth straight victory for Mayo over the Empire State was achieved with the usual minimum fuss on Sunday. The home side, despite a 15 points loss, made for game opponents, and enjoyed a particularly good third quarter in which they scored two goals, but they had no answer to a quite sensational performance by Ryan O’Donoghue.
The Mayo corner-forward, by half-time, had scored what New York would manage over the entire game, and by full-time the Belmullet man had set a new record for the most that any player has scored against the Big Apple in championship football. 1-4 of his 1-13 total was struck from play, however, the rest of the Mayo starters were outscored by the Mayo substitutes in what was anything but a perfect performance by Kevin McStay’s team.
Improvement will be sought on Sunday week as they seek to atone for their exit from last year’s Connacht SFC at the hands of Roscommon.
“The sense I have is that we’ll be chomping by the time we get to Hyde Park,” said McStay in the wake of Sunday’s win, which was achieved in the absence of first-choices Jordan Flynn and Diarmuid O’Connor.
It was still an exceptionally strong team that McStay selected, with not a single championship debutant until the 66th-minute introduction of Conor Hunt, who replaced Paddy Durcan on the occasion of the team captain’s 100th Mayo appearance. The game at Gaelic Park was also Aidan O’Shea’s 185th in league (100) and championship (85) combined, surpassing the record of Andy Moran. Only Kerry brothers Marc and Tomás Ó Sé, Tyrone’s Sean Cavanagh and Stephen Cluxton of Dublin have made more championship appearances.
A positive start by New York in the sunny spring-like conditions was dampened by a calculated second-quarter performance from Mayo who had Ryan O’Donoghue give an exhibition of scoring. He kicked all but two points of Mayo’s 1-11 first-half total and could easily have had a second goal, all after Paddy Durcan had been unfortunate to smack the butt of New York’s left upright just four minutes after throw-in.
The teams had traded points inside five minutes, O’Donoghue’s free negated by Killian Butler who brilliantly fetched a long-range free by New York goalkeeper Joey Grace and fired over his shoulder. London-born Butler would double his tally in the 21st minute with a lobbed effort that for a moment looked like it might land in the net of backpedalling ‘keeper Colm Reape but Mayo, by then, had already asserted some dominance. Three Ryan O’Donoghue points and one by Aidan O’Shea, from a self-won free, left them 0-5 to 0-2 ahead.
Matters improved considerably for the visitors in the 22nd minute when David McBrien surged up the left wing and popped a pass inside to O’Donoghue who cut in and drilled the ball inside Grace’s near post. The corner-forward maintained his rich vein of form by popping over three more points, with two from frees, after which Jack Carney became only Mayo’s third scorer, kicking the final point of the half from a fine move that began with Jack Coyne winning the New York kickout.
Already the home team’s position looked precarious, with Mayo 1-9 to 0-2 in front.
The turnover of players in the New York team from one season to the next was possibly never so stark; only three of the starters had also played in last year’s historic victory over Leitrim while three more were substitutes in 2023. In other words, of the 26 players in the New York panel to play Mayo, 20 of them had no involvement in their ‘county’s’ first-ever championship victory last year.
Furthermore, with six homegrowns in the first 15 and four more among the substitutes, never before had a New York squad been so populated by natives.
Still, the Empire State side had aimed to make another big impression, and that they did when scoring two final goals after the break.
Another brace of Ryan O’Donoghue points had been separated by New York’s first in almost 20 minutes, which Kerry native Rob Wharton curled over when fed by fellow half-back Shane Brosnan. And Paddy Durcan had added a scoring finish to a weaving move orchestrated by the excellent Coyne, when the home fans had cause to cheer their loudest yet, as Clare native Frank O’Reilly showed lightning speed to run onto Butler’s pass and drive an unstoppable shot past Colm Reape.
It was a score wiped out by points from O’Donoghue, a free, sub Darren McHale and Fergal Boland, but then New York gallantly pounced for a second major, in the 50th minute, with captain and full-back Jamie Boyle far enough forward to cut in from the left and shoot low past Reape and reduce the arrears to eleven points, 1-17 to 2-3.
At their best, New York had once come as ‘close’ as a dozen points of Mayo (1999), at their worst they had been beaten by 26 (2004), and on Sunday they would fall somewhere in between.
Boyle’s goal was wiped out inside a minute as a foul on Paul Towey resulted in fellow substitute Cillian O’Connor dispatching the penalty past Joey Grace. O’Connor also pointed the rebound of a goal chance Aidan O’Shea really should have scored while Towey, who was a lively blood sub for Tommy Conroy, scored his first to leave Mayo 2-19 to 2-3 ahead entering the final 10 minutes.
Towey and corner-back Sam Callinan, like O’Shea, were also denied goals by the busy Grace, as New York worked hard not to capitulate. And they didn’t, with two late points by goal-scorer O’Reilly, including a mark, and one from sub Mikey Brosnan met with one apiece at the other end by Carney and man-of-the-moment O’Donoghue, from a self-won free.
While memories of Leitrim’s downfall in 2023 were fresh, it was worth remembering how well New York had played the year before as well when only losing to Sligo by four points, 1-16 to 0-15, so in contrast this was emphatic from a Mayo team that now has Sunday week’s Connacht semi-final trip to Roscommon to prepare for.
If Flynn and O’Connor are available, David McBrien could be considered for a return from midfield to a full-back line that had struggled to exert its authority, albeit Jack Coyne was an energetic, knitting-type instigator going forward. There were glimpses too of Matthew Ruane rediscovering some form of old but while Ryan O’Donoghue stole all plaudits, in serious need of examination is the latest blank from play by Tommy Conroy and Aidan O’Shea. The pair have this year both started seven games in the full-forward line, Conroy having made another two appearances as a substitute, yet combined they have amassed just 0-3 from play, one point by Conroy, two by O’Shea. It’s a burden the rest of the attack can only disguise for so long.
The weekend was the start of a busy inter-county championship season which runs for sixteen weeks, culminating with the All-Ireland SFC Final on July 28. Mayo’s first hurdle has been cleared but the ditches get higher from hereon.
