Mayo and Rossies share spoils after U20 thriller
Mayo’s Darragh Beirne scored a goal in tonight's Connacht U20 Football Championship clash. Picture: David Farrell Photography
The early signs are the 2024 Connacht Championship will be every bit as wide open as was predicted, after Roscommon and Mayo played out a hugely entertaining draw at Dr Hyde Park in the first game of the round robin series this evening.
Few could argue that a draw was a fair result, and by the time stoppage time rolled around, Mayo had just lost goalkeeper David Dolan to a black card and were hanging on to a share of the spoils. It was all very different to the opening 20 minutes, when Mayo pillaged the Rossie defence for three goals - from Claremorris duo Darragh Beirne and Niall Hurley and Westport's Finbar McLoughlin - and looked like they might plunder plenty more over the course of the remainder of the game.
At midfield and defence, Peadar Gardiner’s side was pushed to the pin of their collar, and even though Roscommon were struggling to put scores on the board, there were signs that there was a real threat there. Conor Ryan and Shane Walsh offered an element of pure power and physicality at midfield that contrasted with the Mayo duo that looked happier when the ball was in hand, and it took a couple of vital interventions from David Slattery and John McMonagle to prevent Roscommon putting scores on the board.
