Mayo swept away by full force of red tide

If the first-half of this All Ireland semi-final began like a Saturday night rave, then the second-half began like Monday morning prayers in a draughty abbey – all silence and solemn faces. Longford's Pearse Park waited for a purple patch but got beige instead.

Passes went astray, shots drifted wide and the energy ebbed like a tide going out. Then, finally, in the 45th minute, Colm Lynch stepped forward and cut through the melancholy. His two-pointer, curled sweetly off the outside of his boot and sent gliding over the bar like a cold breeze through a half-open door, was Mayo’s first of the half. It was late, but at least there was life.

From there on, the game never took a moment to breathe.

The first-half had begun in similar fashion. The crowd in Pearse Park were almost on their feet before they’d even found their seats. In what would've been quite the opening salvo for the Connacht champions, Diarmuid Duffy almost put the ball in the back of the Louth net for the game’s opening score. Off balance and leaning backwards, he attempted to dink a shot above the shoulder of Louth goalkeeper Tiernan Markey. But the shot-stopper stood tall, parried it away and set the stage for a game that refused to settle into any kind of shape for a while.

But the near-perfect opener quickly turned to mild panic for Peadar Gardiner's side as Shane Lennon trotted straight down the other end and rolled the ball into the Mayo net. Then came Tony McDonnell’s fisted effort and just like that, Mayo’s grand plans began to unravel.

It took Niall Hurley to restore Mayo’s bearings. A curled shot off his right, followed up by a Hugh O’Loughlin effort, reminded the county that these are games that aren't won within the opening 10 minutes.

Then Tom Lydon entered the fray, giving those watching on his best impression of David Clifford, raising another white flag as his boot rose above his head. It was the pick of a series of scores traded tit-for-tat, with umpires barely getting the flag down before needing to raise it again.

Just as Mayo threatened to fade, David Dolan became a one-man resistance movement. An exceptional save from Conor Mac Criosta amid a flurry of limbs ensured Mayo stayed competitive in a contest that could've quickly seemed over despite the county playing reasonably well. Dolan's teammates clearly fed off his heroics with Darragh Beirne almost hitting the net at the other end moments later.

More goals were looming, like dark clouds on the horizon. It was merely a case of who would manufacture them. Alas, it was Mayo who blinked. Four unanswered points had hauled the side back to parity, only for Pearse Grimes-Murphy to bolt out of nowhere with a shot so violent it could’ve been brought before the local district court.

By the break, six of Mayo’s eight scores had come from their full-forward line, a rebuke to the county’s fondness for attacking football from deep. In Pearse Park, they found joy in the simplicity of directness. But Louth weren't in an All-Ireland semi-final for the first time since 1981 by chance. Mayo needed more options if they were to set-up an All-Ireland decider with Tyrone.

Unfortunately Mayo had to wait until Lynch’s superb effort before they began to create new options. That one strike had loosened the limbs and cleared the cobwebs. Suddenly, players who had been casting nervous glances backward were running with purpose into space.

Lydon quickly followed up the score with a brace that oozed the confidence beginning to swell within the side. Just like that, Mayo were within a kick of drawing level. Then Lynch, perhaps emboldened by his previous effort, decided to try the same trick again and pulled it off. Amid the theatre of two-pointers, Mayo had found themselves in front.

That said, Louth weren’t ready to bow out just yet. Grimes-Murphy, Louth’s star performer of the evening, swung back with a two-pointer of his own, nudging the Wee County back in front. At that point it was becoming clear that this wasn’t a day for simple narratives. And so Darragh Beirne, from a free so close to the sideline he could've turned on the immersion in the clubhouse, sneaked a two-pointer over and Mayo were back on top. The next act in this seesawing drama came courtesy of Tiernan Markey, who matched Beirne’s effort with a placed ball of his own, struck cleanly from just outside the arc.

It was breathless stuff. Beirne added a more conservative single just inside the arc, and again it was level. But then, in the kind of moment on which these games tend to hinge, Adam Gillespie popped up in space, fisted the ball over the bar and punched his side's ticket to the All-Ireland final to cap off a historic week for the county.

In the end, Mayo were left to digest one of the oldest truths in championship football: the biggest games demand 60 minutes of your very best and anything less is an invitation to regret. For all their moments of brilliance, Mayo couldn’t quite sustain the eye-catching football that lit up the evening in the Midlands. The rhythm that carried them through Connacht stuttered just enough to let Louth squeeze through the cracks.

But there was no shortage of heart. What stood out, even in defeat, was the marksmanship of the Mayo forwards. They kicked scores from angles that the senior team will need to call upon over the decade to come. In an era where too many teams fear the shot, Mayo backed themselves from range. And more often than not, they delivered.

Still, Louth have the look of a county on a roll. And when that kind of momentum takes hold and when belief trickles down from the seniors to the minors and into the clubs, the jersey doesn't feel as heavy on the shoulders. Mayo ran into a red tide at full tilt and were swept away by its force.

There’s no shame in that – only lessons and players who’ll return all the wiser as they make the next step up.