Deel swamped by rising Moy tide
Crossmolina's Diarmaid Walsh slots home the opening goal of Saturday's seven-goal thriller at St Tiernan's Park. Picture: David Farrell Photography
Saturday’s showdown between Crossmolina Deel Rovers and Moy Davitts was widely predicted to be a belter of a championship clash but exceeded even that lofty expectation in what was a scarcely believable Group 1 intermediate encounter. Rovers, the marginal underdogs despite their home advantage, found themselves nine points in front after Fionan Duffy struck his side’s second goal of the game just four minutes into the second-half. It took Moy Davitts less than seven minutes to level matters and by the 55th minute they were eight points ahead – a swing of 17 points in 21 minutes of action.
Throw in the stoppage-time melee that saw Moy Davitts defender Oisin McHugh and one non-playing sub from each team red-carded by referee Kevin Connelly, and while a defeat was never going to fatal for either side, there was a real sense throughout that something big was riding on this fixture – maybe the want to lay down a marker as to title aspirations.
Moy Davitts certainly did that, even if the concession of 2-17 to a team that also had late chances to at least double their own goal tally may well concern manager James Mulderrig going forward. But as a spectacle, the whatever-you-score-we’ll-score-more mentality of both teams was lapped up by fans who basked as much in the openness of the game as in the long-awaited sunny conditions.
After an early exchange of points between Fionan Duffy and Cian McHale, who both finished the day with 1-7 tallies, a fifth minute point by full-forward Patrick Leddy gave Crossmolina a lead they would maintain until the 41st minute. Duffy fisted over to double his side’s advantage and while that point was negated by Conor Reid, a free by Duffy left the hosts 0-4 to 0-2 ahead after seven minutes.
Another wonderful long-range effort by midfielder Reid kept Moy Davitts on the heels of their opponents, however, the game’s first big breakthrough came when Duffy’s fourth point of the opening 10 minutes was immediately followed by Crossmolina’s first goal. Jordan Flynn had disrupted a Moy Davitts attack and the ball was moved quickly downfield where Duffy and Leddy combined to set-up Diarmaid Walsh who fired past goalkeeper Chris McGlynn.
Suddenly a five points gap had emerged, and that was maintained by James Maheady who twice negated singles kicked over by Cathal Clarke and Colm McHale, before Niall Coggins and Jordan Flynn extended the lead further, 1-9 to 0-5.
Moy Davitts hit their first back-to-back points in the 23rd and 25th minutes, courtesy of Cian McHale’s second free and a stylish Anthony Jordan effort from the top left corner. Indeed some of the shooting at both ends of the pitch was of the highest order but with Flynn working exceptionally hard around the middle, and the home side overloading their defence at times in recognition of Moy Davitts’ attacking threat, it was Crossmolina who remained very much in the ascendancy. A third Maheady point (his second from a mark) and one by goal-scorer Walsh left them 1-11 to 0-7 in front with three minutes of the first-half left to play.
A quick-thinking move that involved Brian Heneghan, Sean Kelly, Colm McHale and Conor Reid ended with Padraig Ruane firing over the final point before half-time, and Cian McHale sent over a skyscraper shortly after the restart to reduce Moy Davitts’ arrears further to five points, but the road ahead became even longer when Crossmolina replied with 1-1 in a 60-second window.
A mix-up among Moy Davitts players beneath a Crossmolina kick-out allowed Jordan Flynn to nab possession and burst forward to spilt the posts. Moments later, the away side’s defence was left flat-footed again, this time by Niall Coggins whose pass inside saw Fionan Duffy pick his spot in the bottom left corner.
Deel Rovers now led 2-12 to 0-9 and looked in pole position to secure their second win in as many matches. What followed was their outscoring by 5-04 to 0-5 between then and full-time.
The key to Moy Davitts’ comeback was how swiftly they had responded to Duffy’s goal, with less than a minute played before Anthony Jordan pinged a superb ball into the path of Cathal Clarke who had run from deep to blast past ‘keeper JP Mulhern. A minute later and Conor Reid, a first-time Mayo panellist this year, drilled home another goal, and when Cian McHale swung over an excellent free from the right wing, Crossmolina’s lead was already down to two points, 2-12 to 2-10, by the 38th minute.
A solitary Fionan Duffy free was never going to be enough to stem the tide so when a give-and-go between Brian Heneghan and Conor Reid opened up the space for Cian McHale to stab home his side’s third goal 11 minutes into the second-half, and McHale struck over a self-won free a minute later, the visitors were ahead for the first time, 3-11 to 2-13.
James Maheady’s fourth point levelled proceedings but it was for the final time, as the Moy Davitts juggernaut was not for turning; the half-time substitutes, Oisin Quinn, Jamie Clarke and Liam Byrne, had each made massive impacts, while by the time ex-Mayo attacker Brian Reape was sprung from the bench in the 47th minute, the East Mayo outfit had just scored their fourth goal.
It was the first of two in three minutes, both converted by Sean Kelly. His first came when Cian McHale’s free-in was flicked into his path and allowed him to boot first time past Mulhern. Kelly showed a real poacher’s instinct for his second, pouncing on Liam Byrne’s point effort that had rebounded off the upright.
Supplemented by two more points from Cian McHale, including a free, Moy Davitts now led 5-13 to 2-14 with five minutes of normal time left to play – but Crossmolina refused to give up and could have pulled a goal back when Conor Loftus broke through, only for the Mayo footballer to blaze over McGlynn’s crossbar.
Fionan Duffy would pare back two more points from frees, and sub Cillian Fergus could have done much better than to shoot a goal chance wide after intercepting McGlynn’s attempt to clear, but Moy Davitts survived all that and overcame the late dismissals of Oisin McHugh (red) and Conor Reid (black) as well, to secure their place in the quarter-finals with one round to spare.
Scorers – Moy Davitts: Sean Kelly 2-0, Cian McHale 1-7 (0-5f), Conor Reid 1-2, Cathal Clarke 1-1, Colm McHale, Padraig Ruane and Anthony Jordan 0-1 each.
Crossmolina: Fionan Duffy 1-7 (0-4), Diarmuid Walsh 1-1, James Maheady 0-4 (2m), Jordan Flynn 0-2, Patrick Leddy, Niall Coggins and Conor Loftus 0-1 each.
Crossmolina: JP Mulhern; Fearghal Duffy, Kevin Mulhern, Lorcan Loftus; Aaron Coggins, Cathal Carolan, Diarmuid Coggins; Daragh Syron, Jordan Flynn; James Maheady, Conor Loftus, Niall Coggins; Diarmaid Walsh, Patrick Leddy, Fionan Duffy. Subs: Matthew Gordetskyy (for Walsh 47), Cillian Fergus (for L Loftus 52).
Moy Davitts: Chris McGlynn; Jack Dunleavy, Oisin McHugh, Fiachra Cruise; Neil Murphy, Colm McHale, Cathal Clarke; Conor Reid, Padraig Ruane; Cian McHale, Alan Bourke, Stephen Clarke; Brian Heneghan, Anthony Jordan, Sean Kelly. Subs: Jamie Clarke, Oisin Quinn and Liam Byrne (for Sean Kelly. Subs: Jamie Clarke, Oisin Quinn and Liam Byrne (for Bourke, Cruise and Clarke ht), Brian Reape (for Heneghan 47), John Gilmore (for C Clarke 59).
REF: Kevin Connelly (Hollymount-Carramore)
