Mayo swamped by second-half surge by Saffron and Blue
Mayo and Roscommon players tussle for the ball at midfield.
Mayo’s home tie against Sligo this coming Friday evening in the Electric Ireland Connacht minor football championship is looking like a do-or-die fixture for the side managed by Tom Reilly and David Heaney, after they were blown away by Roscommon in the second-half of this fixture at Dr Hyde Park.
With a strong breeze set to favour the visiting side after half-time, a 2-8 to 2-5 deficit looked like a more than satisfactory state of affairs for Mayo. But the half-time team talk would have been even more upbeat again, given that Roscommon exploded out of the traps by scoring 2-3 without reply, before Mayo’s supremacy at the midfield and wing-back slots started to come to bear on the game.
The full-back line started well too, securing turnovers on the first three Roscommon possessions without conceding a shot at goal, and even after Sam Hannon fired over a monster strike from distance to make it 0-3 to no score with ten minutes gone, Mayo arguably would have been the happier side.
Then in the space of a minute Dara Curran drifted in and got a clean fist on Luke Shally’s high ball for the first goal, and then on the next play after Roscommon forced a turnover just inside the Mayo half, Curran returned the favour by drawing Thomas Williams out from his goal and slipping a pass across for Shally to flick the ball to the net.
Oran Murphy got Mayo off the mark in response but it needed a moment of real magic to rally the Green and Red troops, and that came from wing-back Dara Flanagan. His dummy and footwork turned what looked like a straightforward point-scoring opportunity into a ten-metre shot from Conor Jordan with just the goalkeeper to beat, and the Ballina man did just that with a powerful low drive.
Roscommon’s defensive talisman and fulcrum, full-back Tadhg Rogers, chose to shadow Jordan even when he drifted out to the half-forward line, with Conor Hession slotting into the gap on the edge of the large square. That worked out well for Mayo as Hession filled his boots in Rogers’ absence, clipping two points either side of a Fionn Ó Cinnseala free – the latter after making a fine high grab – and also hammering in a second goal before half-time.
Hannon had settled Roscommon with another two booming kicks from distance, meaning that three games in, the Roscommon Gaels player has been the source of all five orange flags for the team in this championship, but Barry Langan’s point and then his delivery that was fielded by Ben Holmes and then laid off for Hession to finish, sent Mayo into the dressing-room with momentum.
Whatever was said, consumed or done at the break, that momentum had completely evaporated by the restart. Enda Browne fisted over the opening point after cutting in along the end-line from the left corner, Dean Casey announced his arrival with a fine score, and the Rossies never looked back. Mayo added a solitary point in 25 minutes of play, a score from Fionn Ó Cinnseala that was as much about the butchered Roscommon kickout as anything that the Westport player did, while by now, the war in the trenches at midfield was going completely the other way. Mayo struggled to get their hands on the ball and their difficulties were compounded by sloppy losses of concentration, such as that from a 45 metre free where Seamus Hussey was allowed to run into space in the middle of the small arc and collect a dinked pass, turn, and shoot, all without a Mayo player laying a hand on him.
There was nothing could have done about either of the two Roscommon goals, one sublime finish from Christopher Feerick and another from Dara Curran that will go right into the ‘goal of the season’ mix, both as a result of the inch-perfect pass from Casey and Curran’s composure to add the finish.
Mayo gave themselves something to build on in the closing minutes when Dara Flanagan burst through the centre and picked out the bottom corner with a powerful and precise shot, then Hession scored from close range and Adam Kelly ended the contest with Mayo’s only two-pointer of the night, but it will still feel like scant enough consolation considering the one-sided fare that preceded it for the bulk of the second half, and the healthy half-time position that was squandered by that collapse.
Scorers – Roscommon: Dara Curran 2-0-4 (0-4f), Sam Hannon 0-3-1 (1tpf), Luke Shally and Christopher Feerick 1-0-0 each, Enda Browne, Dean Casey, Seamus Hussey and Bríon O’Dowd 0-0-1 each.
Mayo: Conor Hession 1-0-3, Conor Jordan and Dara Flanagan 1-0-0 each, Fionn Ó Cinnseala 0-0-2 (1f), Adam Kelly 0-1-0, Oran Murphy and Barry Langan 0-0-1 each.
Roscommon: Cian Trimble; Conor Tighe, Tadhg Rogers, Jack Brooks; Colm Fitzgerald, Diarmuid O’Higgins, Enda Browne; Seamus Hussey, Alex Oates; Christopher Feerick, Sam Hannon, Seamie Carthy; Shay McGuinness, Dara Curran, Luke Shally. Subs: Adam Killian (for Fitzgerald 25-29, inj), Dean Casey (for Shally ht), David Mannion (for Brooks 44), John Price (for Carthy 48), Tadhg Fallon and Bríon O’Dowd (for Fitzgerald and McGuinness 56).
Mayo: Thomas Williams; Conor Coghill, Cian May, Cahair Tighe; Declan Duffy, Barry Langan, Dara Flanagan; Adam Kelly, Ben Holmes; Ryan O’Donnell, Fionn Ó Cinnseala, Conor Hession; Fiacre Ó Cinnseala, Conor Jordan, Oran Murphy. Subs: Tony Carey (for Fiacre Ó Cinnseala 38), Patrick Garvey (for O’Donnell 42), Jack Noone (for Jordan 51), Maidhc Óg Staunton (for Tighe 56), Ben Joyce (for Fionn Ó Cinnseala 57).
REF: Mark McCloskey (Leitrim)
