Mayo strut their stuff in third quarter to see off hapless Rossies
Mayo’s Ryan O'Donoghue in action against Roscommon’s Dylan Ruane.
The kids had seen enough.
When referee Joe McQuillan blew the whistle for Dylan Ruane’s foul on a Mayo man, the eager youth at MacHale Park burst prematurely onto the pitch. The Cavan ref knew better than to even attempt to stem the steadily increasing flow of youngsters streaming onto the pitch and instead blew the final whistle on a game that was over as a contest long before it actually ended, nine seconds before the end of injury time.
A superb first-half battle, one that was looking like one hell of an advertisement for a potential provincial clash between these two teams in a few weeks’ time, gave way to a damp squib in the second half as Roscommon fell completely flat and Mayo pushed on. Mayo dominated the opening 21 minutes of the game but Roscommon got back to within a point by the break while Mayo had gone the last 17 minutes of the half without scoring.
However, by the 55th minute, Mayo had doubled their first-half tally of seven points and ended the night as six-point winners over their Connacht rivals. The result brings them back to winning ways in the League, two points closer to Paradise and two away from Purgatory.
It was a game of two, almost identical halves. In both the first and second half, Mayo dominated the early exchanges. Many of the elements were carbon copies from one half to the other. An early Fergal Boland point, a couple of Ryan O’Donoghue scores and collectors’ items galore; in the first half, the crowd of 9,160 witnessed a point from play from Mayo keeper Colm Reape, a point from Aidan O’Shea’s unfavoured right boot and Stephen Coen’s second point in as many games and in the second half, they watched Donnacha McHugh fired over his fifth and sixth ever points for Mayo.
What did not carry over from one half to the other was the Roscommon fightback. Roscommon only managed three points in the second half and the result has left them in dire straits coming into the closing rounds of the League. In general, it was a mediocre performance all around for Roscommon, who were ill-disciplined and lacked an element of focus in their attacking play.
The starting team for Mayo had eight changes from the team that started against Tyrone the week before. Colm Reape returned in place of Rob Hennelly in goal while Donnacha McHugh for Michael Plunkett was the only swap in Mayo’s back six. Jack Carney lined up beside Eoghan McLaughlin in midfield while Bob Tuohy came in at wing-forward in place of Diarmuid Duffy.
Kevin McStay went with a full forward line identical to the one that started against Dublin a month ago in Aidan O’Shea, Paul Towey and Ryan O’Donoghue. O’Donoghue took his tally to 0-22 for the League campaign with six points against Roscommon, three from frees and three from play.
Of the front six that had started against the Red Hand, only two got the nod on Saturday evening and one of them, Jordan Flynn, looked as though his evening could be cut very short at first.
With less than sixty seconds played, the Crossmolina man’s evening looked in peril as he was replaced by Matthew Ruane, a blood sub. He returned just two minutes later, seemingly no worse for wear and his team now a point ahead, supplied by the other forward who kept his place, Fergal Boland. The Aghamore man has started every National Football League game this year and has also scored in every game thus far since his return to the starting ranks for Mayo. He was a bright spark again for Mayo and could have laid claim to O’Donoghue’s man of the match trophy. He made his way inside after Donnacha McHugh’s good run found Aidan O’Shea and the Breaffy man laid it off to Boland who fired over.
There was not a great deal that could have been learned about Kevin McStay's team on Saturday evening but they have clearly been delving into the mad science of modern GAA goalkeeping, with keeper Colm Reape strolling into no man's land and launching the ball between the posts about 47 metres out with four minutes played.
Diarmuid Murtagh then got Roscommon motoring, his first of a 0-4 tally, after Brian Stack played a nice pass to him. Two superb points followed for Ryan O’Donoghue. The first came after he sold a Roscommon man a dummy pass and wove into space to fire over. The next came after he held off David Murray and got his shot away under pressure to put Mayo three ahead.
O’Donoghue got the next one for Mayo, responding instantly to Daire Cregg’s point for Roscommon. Shane Cunnane fouled Bob Tuohy off the ball during a period of sustained Mayo possession in and around the Roscommon 45 metre line. It was careless stuff by the St Brigid’s man and O’Donoghue put over the resulting free from close range.
Aidan O’Shea found a tiny pocket of space and fired over with his lesser-utilised right boot. Donie Smith replied for Roscommon but another seldom-seen scorer popped up for Mayo in the form of captain Stephen Coen. He is better known for his defensive work rate but provided an audacious finish for his second point in as many weeks.
Roscommon got back to within a point by halftime and could have had a goal or two. Rory Brickenden got Mayo out of jail when he intercepted Ruaidhri Fallon’s pass in the direction of James Fitzpatrick, who was staring at an open goal otherwise. Murtagh scored twice to cut the gap to just two points.
Colm Reape was then found adrift at sea during a quick Roscommon break. Enda Smith tried to lob the Mayo keeper but Reape was back just in time to make a dramatic, diving save to keep it from hitting the back of the net. From the resulting 45, Reape’s opposite number Conor Carroll fired over.
The baying of Mayo supporters for James Fitzpatrick’s dismissal was lessened by the lacklustre nature of the remainder of the game. Just before the break, he saw yellow for a dangerous tackle on Stephen Coen that left the Hollymount/Carramore visibly furious. Perhaps wary of his player drawing the ire of the referee in the second half, Davy Burke hooked Fitzpatrick at half time and replaced him with Conor Cox.
Meanwhile, Mayo seized control of the game and scored seven without reply after the teams came back out. Fergal Boland scored with 38 seconds played in the half and Ryan O’Donoghue tacked on two frees. Enda Hession cleverly took a mark after pass from Jordan Flynn while there was also a brace of scores from play by Donnacha McHugh. O’Donoghue scored from play to bring an end to a wonderful first 20 minutes of the second half for Mayo, which effectively won them the game.
Cox stopped the rot for Roscommon but their chances came seldom in the closing minutes as Mayo looked to kill the game. Murtagh, a free, and Cox, a point brought an end to their scoring for the day.
Cillian O’Connor’s point in the 70th minute put the icing on the cake for Mayo but there were worrying signs for Eoghan McLaughlin, who came off injured late on after having an excellent second half. He toiled at the coalface for Mayo, constantly making dangerous runs into the heart of Roscommon territory and had Mayo’s only real goal chance of the game in the 60th minute, blasting an effort towards the net that gave Conor Carroll no discomfort.
McLaughlin joins David McBrien, Paddy Durcan and Diarmuid O’Connor on the injury list for Kevin McStay ahead of the visit of table-toppers Derry on St Patrick’s Day to MacHale Park.
