Croker calling after Mayo’s Royal recovery
Player of the Match, Mayo’s Enda Hession, tackles Séamus Lavin of Meath during the All-Ireland SFC Round 3 tie at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar, last Saturday. Pictures: David Farrell Photography
Where to start? The beginning is probably best.
One of the first Meath fans through the turnstiles on Saturday revealed his attendance now left Markievicz Park as the only county ground in the country he has yet to visit. He simply never had reason to travel to Castlebar. By around 8pm he'd have been forgiven if wishing he had never bothered.
With a 2021 league encounter played behind closed doors, the last opportunity spectators had to watch Mayo and the Royals in MacHale Park was 1964.
The visitors scored 2-7 that day, the same as what they had scored after 25 minutes on Saturday, at which stage they led by 10 points. If my Meath man didn’t already feel that was an impossible margin for Mayo to overcome, when his side kicked the first two points of the second-half, against the breeze, to still lead by nine points after 43 minutes, there seemed more chance of the GAA declaring Mayo’s 1996 All-Ireland Final defeat a miscarriage of justice than the Green and Red ending up in Croke Park next weekend. Mayo were that poor.
But this fixture has a history. Of late comebacks. And red cards.
Meath were still four points in front when referee Paul Faloon dismissed Ronan Jones for an off-the-ball shunt at Mayo captain Jack Coyne in the 55th minute. The Dunboyne man had only been on the pitch three minutes, a replacement for midfielder Cian McBride. For almost three-quarters of the game the Royals had strangled their hosts around the middle but with the extra man and a new-found intensity, something Mayo had badly lacked for most of the first-half, Andy Moran’s men scored eight of the game’s last nine points to slay this year’s Division 2 league champions.
It is undoubtedly the most significant victory of Moran’s first season as manager, and only the second time since 2021 Mayo have won a straight knockout championship match, the other being the 2023 preliminary quarter-final away to Galway. Then, as now, Mayo were forced to play three consecutive weekends, and paid a heavy price when encountering Dublin in the last eight. What last weekend’s remarkable comeback (they outscored Meath 0-19 to 0-6 from the 30th minute) will have taken out of them by the time of next weekend’s All-Ireland quarter-final remains to be seen. But it’s a nice problem to have.
Amidst rising temperatures, Saturday’s action was hot in every sense. But for most of the first-half Meath played as though ice filled their veins, with Mayo goalkeeper Jack Livingstone forced into an excellent save after only five minutes. He dived full stretch to his right to deny Jack O’Connor who far too easily was allowed cut through Mayo’s middle. It became an all too familiar pattern.
Jordan Morris, the tricky Meath corner-forward, and Ryan O’Donoghue had already traded points by the time of O’Connor’s goal chance. Meath goalkeeper Sean Brennan drove over the ’45 derived by Livingstone pushing O’Connor’s shot past the post, and the Leinster outfit struck three more points in six minutes to take a firm grip of the proceedings. James Conlon, Matthew Costello and Cian McBride, after a piercing run from full-back by Sean Rafferty, pushed Meath 0-5 to 0-1 ahead after 12 minutes.
Kobe McDonald’s pace saw him burn O’Connor and kick over off his left but overall, Mayo’s attacking approach was far too ponderous. Contrast that with Meath whose angled and driving runs helped them outscore the locals 2-2 to 0-1 between the 16th and 25th minutes. Costello, McBride and Morris all had a hand in their opening goal, finished by Ciaran Caufield, but even more alarming from a Mayo perspective was how porous their defence was when wing-back Sean Coffey stormed through to power home Meath’s second major, in between which Brian Menton and Jordan Morris, off his lesser used right boot, fired over points.
Kobe McDonald forced a flying save from ‘keeper Brennan and drove over the ’45 but Mayo were still 2-7 to 0-3 behind on the half hour mark and were now without Paddy Durcan and Darragh Beirne, both withdrawn due to injuries. Their replacements, Diarmuid O’Connor and Tommy Conroy, would play significant roles in the home side’s revival, the latter laying on a point for Jordan Flynn which came quickly after a vital brace by Enda Hession, one off either boot.
Caulfield struck Meath’s final point of the half but in a rousing Mayo finish, O’Donoghue and Hession forced an overturn on halfway that resulted in Tommy Conroy setting up a goal chance for Conor Loftus. His shot blazed across the target but McDonald rescued a point from the situation and with the wind in their favour after the interval, Mayo suddenly had something more realistic to chase, trailing 2-8 to 0-7.
At first they chased a little too hard, as rushed two-point attempts by Ryan O’Donoghue and Jack Carney sailed wide while Meath stretched out their lead to nine with a point apiece by Jack O’Connor and James Conlon. But to restrict the Royals to just three more points for the remaining half hour indicates just how far the momentum swung in the opposite direction.
Jordan Flynn struck the game’s first two-pointer in the 43rd minute and Bob Tuohy, a late addition to the starting team, kicked a single a minute later, to leave Meath’s two goals as the difference between the teams. And that was still the case after 51 minutes after Ryan O’Donoghue, from a free earned by sub Cian McHale, and Tommy Conroy had traded points with Meath’s Jack Flynn and Sean Coffey.
There was a sense, however, that something was stirring in Mayo. McHale, sprung for Loftus, added another dimension to the attack, scoring Mayo’s 13th point shortly after Enda Hession, who showed tremendous leadership throughout, had cut through to force Sean Brennan into a save.
Conroy added his second point and when came the time for Faloon to hand Ronan Jones his marching orders, Jordan Flynn immediately lofted over his second score from outside the arc, reducing Mayo’s arrears to two points, 2-12 to 0-16, with 15 minutes against fourteen players left to play.
With Mayo men now ravenous around the midfield breaks, and Hession, Sam Callinan and Donnacha McHugh running a tight ship at the rear, the tide had turned and what had come easy to Meath in the first-half now saw the likes of full-forward James Conlon dropping the ball short from only 20 metres out. And yet even when the game was made all-square by McHale playing a key role in points by Ryan O’Donoghue and Tommy Conroy, it would still take a stunning save by Jack Livingstone to deny Caulfield his second – and Meath’s third – goal. Jack O’Connor did retrieve a point from the rebound but Jack Carney, on his third attempt, finally nailed a two-pointer to send Mayo in front for the first time, 0-20 to 2-13, with 60 minutes played.
Super subs Conroy and McHale laid on further points for O’Donoghue and McDonald, the game’s very last, as tired shots by Sean Brennan, a free, and Sean Coffey tailed wide at the other end and drew Meath’s championship campaign to a spectacular close.
Not quite revenge for ’96, but we’ll take it.
Scorers – Mayo: Jordan Flynn 0-2-1, Ryan O’Donoghue 0-0-4 (1f), Kobe McDonald 0-0-4 (1 ’45), Tommy Conroy 0-3, Jack Carney 0-1-0, Enda Hession 0-0-2, Bob Tuohy and Cian McHale 0-0-1 each.
Meath: Ciarán Caulfield and Seán Coffey 1-0-1 each, Jordan Morris, James Conlon and Jack O’Connor 0-0-2 each, Seán Brennan (’45), Cian McBride, Bryan Menton, Mathew Costello and Jack Flynn 0-0-1 each.
Mayo: Jack Livingstone; Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh, Eoin McGreal; Sam Callinan, David McBrien, Enda Hession; Jordan Flynn, Jack Carney; Paddy Durcan, Conor Loftus, Bob Tuohy; Darragh Beirne, Ryan O’Donoghue, Kobe McDonald. Subs: Diarmuid O’Connor (for Durcan 15), Tommy Conroy (for Beirne 27), Cian McHale (for Loftus 40), Matthew Ruane (for Tuohy 53), Stephen Coen (for Flynn 62).
Meath: Seán Brennan; Seamus Lavin, Seán Rafferty, Killian Smyth; Donal Keogan, Bryan Menton, Seán Coffey; Cian McBride, Jack Flynn; Jack O'Connor, Matthew Costello, Ciarán Caulfield; Jordan Morris, James Conlon, Eoghan Frayne. Subs: Brian O’Halloran (for Smyth 44), Ronan Jones and Charlie O’Connor (for McBride and Flynn 51), Cathal Hickey (for Costello 53), James McEntee (for Frayne 57).
REF: Paul Faloon (Down)
