Mayo start minor campaign as they mean to continue
Mayo recorded a six points win over Roscommon to get their Connacht MFC campaign off to a flying start on Friday evening.
An inspirational display of scoring by Kobe McDonald amidst an all-round solid team performance saw Mayo launch their Electric Ireland Connacht Minor Football Championship campaign with a 2-13 to 2-7 home win over Roscommon on Friday evening.
A game that was made all square eight minutes into the second-half by Dean Casey’s goal for Roscommon ended up running away from the visitors who trailed by all of 10 points with under five minutes to play.
McDonald, son of Mayo legend Ciaran, who is also the team’s head coach, hit 1-5, each score almost as spectacular as the next. But the Crossmolina youngster had great assistance, with no fewer than eight Mayo players contributing to the scoreboard from play.
McDonald and Evan Walsh hit a brace apiece as Mayo led 0-6 to 0-4 at half-time, with Dean Casey’s opener the only point that Roscommon scored from play in the first-half. But when Casey rose between defender and goalkeeper after the restart to catch and roll the ball into an empty net, the guests looked primed to take Mayo all the way.
Substitute Andrew Quinn, however, needed only 30 seconds to reply with a goal of his own, and Kobe McDonald slammed home a stunning second for Mayo on 50-minutes, meaning the Green and Red were out of sight by the time Eoin Collins drilled home Roscommon’s second major four minutes from the end.
Scorers – Mayo: Kobe McDonald 1-5 (0-3f), Andrew Quinn 1-0, Evan Walsh 0-3, Oisin Deane, Harry McHale, Conor Moriarty, Tom Hession and Joe Forry 0-1 each.
Roscommon: Dean Casey 1-1, Eoin Collins 1-0, Stephen Tighe 0-3 (2f), Alan Conroy 0-2 (1f), Dara Curran 0-1f.
Mayo: Nathan Roddy; Conor Coghill, Tom Hession (c), Daithí Butler; David Hurley, Mark Noonan, Conor Kavanagh; Josh Moyles, Owen Loughney; Harry McHale, Kobe McDonald, Dylan Flynn; Evan Walsh, Conor Moriarty, Oisin Deane. Subs: Andrew Quinn (for McHale 33), Joe Forry (for Moriarty 34), Mark Sheeran and Fionn O’Kinsella (for Loughney and Flynn 54), Oran Murphy (for Kavanagh 56).
Roscommon: Patrick Gaynor; Liam Finneran, Gordon Casey, Martin Connaughton; Alan Conroy, Keelan Kelly (c), Colin Murray; Darragh Devaney, Declan Kennedy; Samuel Male Hannon, Eoin Collins, Cathal Enright; Dara Curran, Stephen Tighe, Dean Casey. Subs: Ciaran Mulry (for Enright 41), Joe McKeon (for Malec Hannon 43), Kyle Mahon (for Murray 52), Conor Kennedy (for Casey 54), Michael Brooks (for Finneran 56).
REF: John Gilmartin (Sligo)
