Mayo avoid total Clones collapse but have much work to on
Ryan O'Donoghue celebrates scoring a point with his Mayo teammate Donnacha McHugh. Picture: James Crombie
An incredible second-half fightback by Monaghan almost denied Mayo their victory in Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC first-round clash in Clones, after everything had looked to be going as smoothly for the Green and Red as when they had annihilated the Farney boys by 19 points at the same venue in this season’s National Football League.
They led here by a dozen points after Jordan Flynn had fired over the first point of the second-half yet ended up clinging by their fingernails for a one point victory tarnished by the suggestion that Monaghan might even have been denied a good point along the way. This fight really was that tight.
A goal and four points by Flynn’s teenage brother Kobe McDonald, allied with two-pointers by Jack Carney, two, Ryan O’Donoghue, two, and Darragh Beirne, had helped the visitors into a 1-17 to 0-9 interval lead. However, by the time Mayo goalkeeper Jack Livingstone was kicking out the ball with only 10 seconds of the match left to play, the locals were now just one point behind – 55th and 66th minute goals by substitutes Bobby McCaul and Stephen Mooney, and two pointers by Dessie Ward, Jack McCarron and Max Maguire, had helped to almost fully reel in the visitors, just as the Farney outfit had done to Derry and Armagh in their provincial series.
Mayo knew that possession from the kickout would be the winning of the game – and Livingstone’s boomer was crucially fetched by a soaring Kobe McDonald who upon landing booted the ball halfway to Cavan. The accompanying hooter was sweet music to Mayo ears.
Ultimately the decision of Mayo manager Andy Moran to shuffle his deck after the team’s Connacht semi-final defeat to Roscommon proved justified. He named three debutants among six changes in personnel, with none more impactful or important than the aforementioned Jack Livingstone who on his first ever senior championship appearance was a live contender for man-of-the-match.
Livingstone saved two first-half goal attempts and incredibly, made five more excellent saves in the second-half to fully justify his inclusion at the expense of his former Breaffy clubmate Rob Hennelly. His restarts were decent too, and any that ended up in Monaghan hands were rarely due to his inaccuracy, more so the home side’s appetite for the dirty ball.
Diarmuid Duffy and Darragh Beirne also played their first senior championship games, replacing Paddy Durcan and Cian McHale from the start, while into the team too came Donnacha McHugh, Stephen Coen and Hugh O’Loughlin, in place of Rory Brickenden, Bob Tuohy and Aidan O’Shea respectively.
O’Loughlin, in just his second championship appearance, was later replaced by O’Shea who in entering for the final 12 minutes, became the first outfield player in GAA history to make 100 senior championship appearances. Monaghan very nearly made him remember it for all the wrong reasons – and they’ll no doubt believe they could have won the game were it not for an unfortunate injury to Bobby McCaul.
The towering half-time sub had already drawn four saves from Jack Livingstone (off which Rory Beggan drove over two ‘45s) by the time he shot a point and goal back-to-back early in the fourth quarter to truly kickstart the Monaghan revival. But just recently returned from an ACL injury, McCaul’s same knee buckled in the 58th minute and he was carried off on a stretcher.
Another man who has also fought back from injury is Mayo midfielder Matthew Ruane yet surprisingly, there was no room in the matchday squad for him, nor for Cillian O’Connor, Fergal Boland or Rory Brickenden, all of whom had played various roles against Roscommon last time out – as Andy Moran’s appetite for change extended to several positional switches too.
David McBrien was moved from midfield to defence for the first time this year, Jack Carney from wing-forward to midfield, Conor Loftus from centre-back to centre-forward and Ryan O’Donoghue from centre-forward to full-forward, the latter eventually pipping Livingstone to RTÉ’s official man-of-the-match award.
O’Donoghue divided his eight points evenly between frees and open play, but none was more precious than the one he clipped over on 69 minutes when earning and converting a close range free. That was in response to Mooney’s major and pushed Mayo’s lead back out to three points, meaning Max Maguire’s subsequent two pointer was just not enough for Gabriel Bannigan’s gallant Monaghan side.
Before this first round of All-Ireland games, no team in the country had scored as many two pointers this summer as Monaghan yet by half-time, in what were benign conditions, their one score from outside the arc by Andrew Woods had been dwarfed by the six from a Mayo side that was looking anything but ring-rusty despite their five weeks without a competitive match.
They led 0-4 to no score inside eight minutes thanks to Jack Carney’s opening two-pointer and singles by Ryan O’Donoghue, a free, and Jordan Flynn, but at the other end Monaghan full-back Killian Lavelle had already escaped forward to setup the first of Monaghan’s numerous goal chances but Andrew Woods’ shot was expertly deflected past the post by Livingstone whose counterpart, Rory Beggan, was falling short of his usual high standards early doors.
Beggan sent his first two kickouts straight to Mayo men and had kicked two 45s off-target as well by the time Jack McCarron’s pointed free finally got Monaghan off the mark on 10 minutes. They added a second point courtesy of Aaron Carey while Livingstone’s half-block on David Garland’s goal attempt on the quarter hour allowed Donnacha McHugh to clear off the line and launch a Mayo attack that resulted in Kobe McDonald’s opening point. It preceded two pointers by O’Donoghue, a free, and Carney, so by the 18th minute Mayo were 0-9 to 0-2 ahead.
McDonald himself kicked a two-point beauty in response to a Conor McCarthy single – and would also issue an emphatic reply to Monaghan’s first back-to-back points of the contest, kicked by Micheál Bannigan and Oisin McGorman. Darragh Beirne was the creator along the left endline and his U20 teammate McDonald was the finisher, rising at the back post to punch Beirne’s handpass to the net for a 1-11 to 0-5 Mayo lead after 26 minutes.
Ciotóg Beirne also had time to show he is no one trick pony when his lesser-used right boot negated a point by Monaghan midfielder McArville, while McDonald cancelled out a wonderful point from the left wing by McCarron, as the gap remained at nine points with three minutes of the first-half remaining.
There was time for Woods to drop over the home side’s first two-pointer but time also for Mayo to hit back with two more of their own, as Beirne scored a self-won free and O’Donoghue cleverly played down the clock before wriggling free to belt over from 45-metres right on the hooter, leaving an eleven points difference between the sides.
Monaghan introduced the experienced Ryan Wylie and also Bobby McCaul for the start of the second-half while midfielder Karl Gallagher returned with a Willie Joe-style bandage having picked up a head wound seven minutes before half-time. But there was little indication that anything much was going to change when Mayo won the throw-in and Jordan Flynn used his left boot to extend their lead inside 15 seconds.
But Monaghan’s mission soon became very clear; to target the area of Mayo’s defence that had changed the most. Donnacha McHugh and David McBrien may have formed a new look spine but it creaked and moaned badly throughout a second-half in which Mayo were very fortunate to only be outscored 2-11 to 0-7.
McCaul fetched the first route one delivery and after a quick one-two, drew the first of Livingstone’s second-half saves. Beggan this time nailed his ’45 and did so again in the 45th minute, after twice again the Mayo stopper had foiled McCaul. The aftermath of the first of those saves was mired in controversy however, as McCaul’s effort to point the rebound was deemed wide when television replays at least cast some doubt on the decision.
There were further heroics from Livingstone in the 47th minute when he saved a shot by first-half sub Max Maguire and maybe even got a touch to the follow-up by McCaul which smashed against the crossbar before Livingstone rose quickly from the deck to clear his lines. All the while Mayo had kept their side of the scoreboard ticking over, with Conor Loftus and Ryan O’Donoghue each on target, while O’Donoghue hit another single in reply to a Dessie Ward two-pointer, meaning Mayo were still eleven points ahead, 1-21 to 0-13, heading into the fourth quarter. Indeed they might totally have been out of sight had Darragh Beirne had better fortune from two goal chances in the 53rd and 55th minutes.
The first he blazed high and wide from the right of goal, the second he stood ready to palm McBrien’s pass into an empty net until Rory Beggan sprang from his line to intercept and launch an attack that resulted in Bobby McCaul finally guiding home Monaghan’s opening goal.
That six-point swing helped gather the Ulstermen some serious momentum, as McCaul and Conor McCarthy also raised white flags. And even when Beirne and sub Paddy Durcan picked off points either side of McCarron’s third of the game, Mayo’s seven points lead with six minutes left to play still didn’t look solid.
Monaghan refused to be sidetracked by the bad injury to McCaul and when McCarron’s two pointer was buttressed by Stephen Mooney’s 66th minute goal, all bets were off.
Mayo captain Jack Coyne and Jordan Flynn argued vehemently – and with some justification – with referee David Coldrick that he had caused an obstruction in their efforts to tackle Mooney in the build-up but the goal stood and with the gap now down to two points, the most proactive response was by Ryan O’Donoghue whose lionhearted attack drew a crucial free that allowed him to kick Mayo three clear, with a minute left on the clock.
It’s possible Max Maguire was only trying to lump the ball into the danger-zone in the hope of causing an equalising goal when instead, his long-range kick sailed over Mayo’s crossbar. If they could win the kickout there was the possibility of one last Monaghan throw of the dice but after a difficult second-half personally, one in which he’ll have learned a few valuable lessons about operating in confined spaces, there appeared Kobe McDonald to climb above all and catch Mayo’s ticket to the Round 2A winners draw.
It’s all in a week’s work for the boy who commences his Leaving Cert examinations this Wednesday. None might be so tough as last Sunday’s.
Scorers – Mayo: Ryan O’Donoghue 0-2-4 (1tpf, 2f), Kobe McDonald 1-1-2, Jack Carney 0-2-0, Darragh Beirne 0-1-2 (1tpf), Jordan Flynn 0-0-2, Conor Loftus and Paddy Durcan 0-0-1 each.
Monaghan: Jack McCarron 0-1-3 (1f), Bobby McCaul 1-0-1, Stephen Mooney 1-0-0, Andrew Woods, Dessie Ward and Max Maguire 0-1-0 each, Conor McCarthy and Rory Beggan (2 ‘45s) 0-0-2 each, Aaron Carey, Micheál Bannigan (f), Oisin McGorman and Micheál McArville 0-0-1 each.
Mayo: Jack Livingstone; Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh, Enda Hession; Sam Callinan, David McBrien, Diarmuid Duffy; Stephen Coen, Jack Carney; Hugh O’Loughlin, Conor Loftus, Jordan Flynn; Darragh Beirne, Ryan O’Donoghue, Kobe McDonald. Subs: Paul Towey and Paddy Durcan (for Loftus and Coen 49), Fenton Kelly (for Duffy 57), Aidan O’Shea (for O’Loughlin 58), Diarmuid O’Connor (for Beirne 63).
Monaghan: Rory Beggan; Ryan McAnespie, Killian Lavelle, Dylan Byrne; Aaron Carey, Ryan O’Toole, Dessie Ward; Micheál McCarville, Karl Gallagher; Oisin McGorman, Micheál Bannigan, Jack McCarron; Conor McCarthy, Andrew Woods, David Garland. Subs: Max Maguire (for McAnespie 26), Robbie Hanratty (for Gallagher 28-ht, blood), Ryan Wylie and Bobby McCaul (for Carey and Garland ht), Stephen Mooney (for McGorman 54), Fionán Carolan (for McCaul 58, inj).
REF: David Coldrick (Meath)
