Mayo make it a triple after overcoming gutsy Roscommon
The Mayo team celebrates after beating Roscommon in the Connacht minor football final. Pictures: INPHO/James Lawlor
The deadly Crossmolina duo of Kobe McDonald and Oisin Deane did the damage once again as Mayo won the Connacht minor football title for the third year in succession.
When these two sides met in the opening game of the round-robin phase, Mayo won with a bit to spare in the end but Roscommon clearly learned their lesson, and from the get go frustrated Mayo throughout the first half. Roscommon captain Keelan Kelly, in particular, did an outstanding job in negating the influence of McDonald, with the centre-forward forced on multiple occasions into his own half to get any hold of the ball.
However, Roscommon failed to make it count on the scoreboard, hitting four wides, and it required a point from Stephen Tighe to draw Roscommon level before half-time.
The second half saw Mayo comes to grips with Roscommon’s gameplan as captain Tom Hession and player of the match David Hurley began to dominate at the back, the former keeping Shay McGuinness scoreless throughout.
Similar to Roscommon in the first, Mayo’s wide count in the second half (seven) saw the Rossies within arm’s reach of Mayo going into the last ten minutes before the turning point of the final arrived when Roscommon goalkeeper Patrick Gaynor was shown a black card for dragging down Joe Forry after the substitute caught the Western Gaels shotstopper in possession. McDonald pointed the free, as well as the next two, and there was only winner from there.
It was an evening to forget for Gaynor from the beginning, as his poor kickout was caught by McDonald, who fed Deane to open the scoring for Mayo after two minutes. Dean Casey would then level it for Roscommon after Darragh Devaney superbly caught Nathan Roddy’s own kickout.
Evan Walsh nudged Mayo back ahead from a tight angle but a pair of Dara Curran frees saw Roscommon 0-3 to 0-2 in front at the end of the first quarter.
Mayo struggled to make any openings, and early frustration was shown when Dylan Flynn was shown a yellow, but two quickfire points through Conor Moriarty and McDonald saw the visitors back ahead on 19 minutes.
Wing-forward Alan Conroy drew Roscommon level once more before McDonald nailed his first free of the evening from 40 metres out. It looked like Mayo would lead coming into the break when a turnover saw Tighe nailed a stunning score off the outside of his boot to leave it at deadlocked at 0-5 apiece.
The introduction of Andrew Quinn for Moriarty added some powerful running to the Mayo attack but the sides remained level at 0-7 each as Roscommon scores by Curran and Dean Casey were countered by Deane and Walsh.
Mayo, however, would hit next three scores to establish a three-point lead for the very first time. A stunning free by McDonald from 55 metres out, Deane’s third from play and one from Quinn saw the pendulum swing in Mayo’s favour, with their opponents now beginning to struggle with Mayo’s intensity.
Casey brought it back before Curran missed a great goal chance on 47 minutes after being put through by Sean McDonnell, which ended up going over the crossbar.
Joe Forry brought the gap back to two points but Mayo could not take further advantage as wide for Forry, Flynn and McDonald kept the hosts in it. Everything changed on 51 minutes when Gaynor was black carded for pulling down Forry on the 20 metre line. McDonald converted the free and another two placed balls and while they kicked another three wides in the closing stages, they saw it out with relative ease to keep the Tom Kilcoyne Cup in Mayo for another year.
Mayo will now meet Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-final in two weeks’ time, while Roscommon meet the Rebel County’s conquerors Kerry.
