Mayo enjoy comfortable win over Cavan
Mayo's Cillian O'Connor, in action against Cavan's Niall Carolan, impressive, scoring 0-4. Picture: INPHO/Tom Maher
Mayo cruised to a 0-20 to 1-8 win over Cavan in their opening group game of the All-Ireland Championships in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar this evening.
Despite playing against the breeze, Mayo cruised into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead as the Breffni men badly missed the presence of talismanic forward Paddy Lynch.
Ryan O’Donoghue, Darren McHale, Eoghan McLaughlin, Matthew Ruane and Jack Carney all pointed the first half but despite dominating much of the first half, a failure to make the most of two goal chances saw them lead only by four, 0-9 to 0-5, with Oisin Brady’s dead ball prowess keeping Cavan in the game.
O’Donoghue and Cillian O’Connor, who looked very sharp alongside brother Diarmuid, kept the scoreboard ticking in the second half, along with Stephen Coen and substitute Conor Loftus. Cavan did find the net on 59 minutes through James Smith but they never looked like reeling Mayo in.
The Green and Red will travel to the Hyde in two weeks to take on Roscommon to try and make it two wins from two, although Kevin McStay will be sweating on the fitness Paddy Durcan after he went down at the end with injury.
