Mayo ease to second win as Lavin hits net again

Allianz Hurling League Division 3 – Round 1 

Mayo 1-23 Cavan 2-14 

Stuart Tynan at Adrian Freeman Park, Tooreen 

Scores may have been in short supply for the Mayo footballers in MacHale Park on Sunday but their hurling counterparts served up plenty after defeating a gallant Cavan on a bitterly cold afternoon in Tooreen.

This game, originally to be Mayo’s opening game in the league but called off due to Storm Eowyn, had its own challenging conditions, with Mayo against a strong breeze in the first-half. But Ray Larkin’s side were never behind at any stage, being six ahead at half-time and 11 points up after Liam Lavin’s goal in the second-half.

They briefly fell asleep after the major, as Cavan struck 1-3 in response and created a number of other goalscoring opportunities. But when Liam O’Brien got Cavan’s second goal in stoppage-time, the win was secure for Mayo at that stage. Larkin and his management team will be happy to have secured two wins from two but there is much to improve on ahead of the visit of league leaders London this Saturday evening.

Mayo hit a trio of early wides before Lavin eventually opened the home side’s account on five minutes. Nicholas Kenny responded in kind and the sides would exchange their second scores shortly after through their main placed ball strikers Shane Boland and Liam O’Brien. Mayo would soon get to grips with matters and hit three of the next four scores through Boland, two, and Daniel Huane to go 0-5 to 0-3 up after 16 minutes.

Mayo continued to rack up the scores through Simon Thomas, Eoghan Collins, Shane Boland and Cormac Phillips. Daniel Huane also had the ball in the net on 29 minutes but the referee awarded a free out for an infringement.

The impressive Liam O’Brien scored three of Cavan’s last four points in the half, the other coming from the impressive Canice Maher, but a strong finish by Mayo saw Liam Lavin, two, John Heraty and Daniel Huane all raise white flags to put Mayo six ahead at the break. The Green and Red were also unlucky not to find the net five minutes before the interval as Lavin spun past two Cavan defenders before racing through but the wing-forward kicked the small ball over the crossbar.

Now with the wind at their backs, Mayo had already outscored Cavan five points to two in the opening seven minutes after the restart, through a pair each by Boland and Cormac Phillips, and one from John Heraty, before Lavin finally got his goal on 47 minutes from a tight angle. It was the Tooreen man’s second in as many games having also hit the net in Mayo’s victory over Sligo seven days previous.

Cavan, who themselves had beaten Sligo in the opening round, responded well and struck back with 1-3 of their own, the goal coming from substitute Mark Moffet seconds after coming on the field. But Mayo made sure of the result through Boland’s seventh point of the afternoon, two Sean Kenny frees and another two points from Lavin, with O’Brien’s goal for the Breffni boys during added time little more than a consolation.

Scorers – Mayo: Liam Lavin 1-5, Shane Boland 0-7 (3f), John Heraty 0-3, S Kenny (2f) and Cormac Phillips (1f) and Daniel Huane 0-2 each, Eoghan Collins and Simon Thomas 0-1 each.

Cavan: Liam O’Brien 1-7 (0-3f, 0-1 65’), Mark Moffet 1-0, Canice Maher 0-3, Nicholas Kenny 0-2, J McGuinness and Rian Delaney 0-1 each.

Mayo: Bobby Douglas; Conal Hession, Oisin Greally, Jack Trench; Eoghan Collins, Simon Thomas, David Kenny; Daniel Huane, John Heraty; Liam Lavin, Sean Kenny, Ryan Duffy; Shane Boland, Cormac Phillips, Jason Coyne. Subs: Ciaran McDermott (for Coyne 38), Mark Phillips (for Hession 50), Evan Heraty (for Duffy 61), Ronan Reilly (for J Heraty 68), Luke Connor (for Trench 69).

Cavan: Conor Gallagher; Shane Briody, Jack McGuinness, Matthew Hynes; Diarmaid Carney, Canice Maher, Darragh Boyle; Daniel Martin, Dillon Mulligan; Liam O’Brien, Eamon Óg McAllister, Enda Shalvey; Nicholas Kenny, Sean Keating, Dylan McKeever. Subs: Jack Barry (for Boyle ht), Rian Delaney (for McKeever 39), Mark Moffet (for Martin 49), Conor Shalvey and Philip Brady (for Keating and McAllister 56).

REF: Michael Connolly (Sligo)