'Lovely' Leitrim show their fight to gave misfiring Mayo a major fright
Leitrim’s Barry McNulty on the ball with Mayo’s David McBrien close behind. Picture: INPHO/Evan Logan
Pathetic fallacy is real (sometimes). The weather in Carrick-on-Shannon this past Saturday was a far cry from the sun-drenched Hastings Insurance MacHale Park we'd seen 13 days earlier when Mayo got over Sligo to earn their passage to the last four of the Connacht championship, and a trip to lovely Leitrim.
But there was nothing 'lovely' about this Leitrim side, not in their nature at least. After what can only be described as a 'horrific' league campaign following six defeats and a walkover given to Fermanagh, even their most diehard of fans would have expected a clipping from Mayo.
What transpired was far from that. Their young powerful midfielder Barry McNulty set the tone inside the opening sixty seconds with a heavy tackle on Davitt Neary, a real statement of intent, as if to say’ welcome to the lion's den, you're getting nothing soft today!!’ He picked up a yellow card for his troubles, which one might have thought could jeopardise him for the remainer of the game. Roll the clocks forward to Niall Cullen's full-time whistle and despite coming out on the losing side the big Glencar-Manorhamilton footballer was the undisputed man of the match.
Leitrim really took it to Mayo in that opening half, the conditions did favour the side who at the outset were 80/1 outsiders. But they played brave, engaged at the right moments, and if anything will have some regrets that they didn't really go in for the kill when they could smell the Mayo blood.
When Matthew Ruane, who prior to Saturday had been getting back to the form of 2021 that saw him collect an All-Star award, sent over a well-hit second-minute point, Mayo took the lead. Six minutes after this score, Leitrim calmed down and levelled the playing field when Darren Cox split the Mayo posts.
Leitrim were given a two-pointer free almost instantly, and McNulty hit it over the crossbar to give the home team an unexpected early lead. By the thirteenth minute, however, Ryan O'Donoghue and Aidan O'Shea each converted a free to put Mayo back on level terms.
Leitrim were holding little back, any opportunity they had to get a second and a third tackler in to try and disrupt a Mayo player in possession they went for it, and McNulty was setting that example.
When he hit another two-pointer from the placed ball in the 20th minute, he gave Leitrim a minimal lead. Then, with points from Jack Carney and Darren McHale, Mayo went back in front.
McNulty's free conversion in the 29th minute put Leitrim back on even terms. While the likes of Kieran Clancy, Ben Guckian and the very easy on the eye Darren Cox continued to take the game to Mayo, Clancy marshalled their full back line and, in truth, limited Mayo to very little in terms of scoring opportunities in the first half. The more Leitrim got forward, the more their charges gained oxygen. Every ball was being played by their supporters, every point being cheered on like a two-pointer and every McNulty two-pointer like a goal.
A pair of points from placed balls for Mayo close to the break had them in front once more, one from O'Donoghue and the other a 45' from goalkeeper Colm Reape. But a strike late in the half from Cox had the bare minimum between them at the change of ends, 0-8 to 0-7 in favour of the visitors.
Arguably the biggest sign that Mayo were not getting things all their own way was the decision of Kevin McStay to make a hat-trick of changes at half time, Diarmuid O'Connor, Eoghan McLoughlin and Shairoze Akram all entering the playing field for the second half. The latter, Akram, making his championship debut for Mayo almost nine years after winning an All-Ireland U21 championship with Mayo - the last All-Ireland success for Mayo at any level.
A pleasing aspect of the second half was the fact that Diarmuid O'Connor got a full 35 minutes of championship football into his legs, with a steady performance to boot. But again, for that first 15 minutes of the second half, the hosts were still there. O'Donoghue scored two Mayo points during this time, Jordan Flynn added another, and Leitrim responded with points from Tom Prior, Barry McNulty, and Riordan O'Rourke, a free. It's difficult not to wax lyrical about the performance from McNult, but it really was that good, and Leitrim sure have a big star for the future.
Mayo's best spell of the contest was undoubtedly the final quarter or so, when that Division One level of fitness and conditioning just about showed. Paul Towey kicked over two good points from the bench, to add to another pair from O'Donoghue bringing his total to nine for the afternoon, propelled Mayo into the match winning position. McNulty had time to strike over the point of the game for a two pointer off the outside of his left, but Stephen Coen, Jordan Flynn and Jack Carney all pointed to get Mayo over the line and into a May Bank Holiday weekend Connacht final against four-in-a-row chasing Galway.
