Mayo are no match for Big Apple visitors

The long trip was one worth making for New York as they rounded off an excellent week’s work with a senior hurling title, winning the Connacht League Final against Mayo at the Connacht GAA Air Dome on Saturday evening.

Qualifying on the back of an eleven points win against the Galway Development side only two days earlier, New York had thirteen points to spare here (2-25 to 2-12) – with a dozen of those from the hurl of Galway native David Mangan, who stole the show at centre-forward.

To be fair, there was a developmental feel about this Mayo team also, with not one regular from the Tooreen team that has won five of the last six Connacht intermediate club titles. That lack of depth was cruelly exposed during a first-half that saw the Exiles lead 0-13 to 0-2 before a fortunate goal from 45-metres by Mayo full-forward Matthew Connor on the stroke of half-time gave the home side something to cheer about.

David Mangan, five, and Martin Cullen, three, hit the bulk of New York’s first-half points, with singles too from Aidan Organ, Ruadhan Mulrooney, Colin O’Brien, Cian O’Dea and Ger McPartland. And when Connor’s goal was negated inside a minute of the restart, with Cullen slamming past Mayo ‘keeper Davog Frayne, it was obvious New York had no intent to ease off the gas.

Cormac Phillips was a tour de force in the second-half, scoring 1-8 on the spin for Mayo, his goal viciously struck from a 20-metre free, but it took until the fourth minute of stoppage time before another Mayo player contributed to the second-half scoring, by which time Ger McPartland had bagged the visitors a second goal and joint captain Mangan had reeled off seven more points, including four from play.

See Tuesday's print edition for full coverage.