Mayo torn apart by ravenous Rossies
Roscommon's Enda Smith has a goal attempt blocked by Enda Hession. Picture: INPHO/Tom O’Hanlon
Bad things really do come in threes.
Unbeaten in Castlebar against Roscommon for 33 years, Mayo have now lost to the Shannonsiders three times in-a-row at home in championship since 2019, but never as comprehensively as this 10 points thumping on Sunday afternoon.
It’s a day that Andy Moran, managing Mayo for the first time in championship at MacHale Park, will want to forget, having watched his side go from leading by six points in the first-half to being totally obliterated in almost every sector by the ravenous Rossies.
The one ray of light for Mayo was the display of Kobe McDonald, the 18-year-old marking his senior championship debut with six points and offering plenty of industry besides, but McDonald was badly let down by more experienced teammates who had no answers to the Roscommon onslaught, one that was led by team captain Diarmuid Murtagh who had scored 1-10 as early as the 50th minute.
Everything had looked to be coming together nicely for the Green and Red when they led 1-9 to 1-3 after 28 minutes, their goal finished superbly by Ryan O’Donoghue and Conor Loftus pulling all the strings from his centre-half-nack position.
Loftus, McDonald and O’Donoghue had each scored two points at that stage as well, but the game was about to swing in a quite incredible fashion. In an eight minute period either side of half-time, Mark Dowd’s Roscommon team outscored Mayo by 0-9 to 0-1 to move into a lead they were never to surrender.
Misplaced kickouts by Mayo goalkeeper Robert Hennelly, and kickouts where Roscommon simply outmuscled their opponents, contributed to so much of Mayo’s downfall on the day.
1-1 of Diarmuid Murtagh’s first-half haul was a direct result of Hennelly’s kickouts landing in the arms of the opposition, and there was no second-half improvement, as the visitors reeled off eight unanswered points through six different players between the 50th and 60th minutes to lead by 10 points with as many minutes left to play.
Nothing Mayo tried – all five subs had been used by the 55th minute – could arrest their decline and Darragh Heneghan, already with three points to his name, drilling home Roscommon’s second goal six minutes from full-time was simply salt in the wound.
Mayo’s exit from the Connacht championship means it’s the first time since the infamous 1969 to 1981 run that the county has gone five years without lifting the Nestor Cup.
They now have a wait until late May before entering the All-Ireland series where they will face a provincial finalist.
Scorers – Roscommon: Diarmuid Murtagh 1-2-6 (1tpf, 2f), Darragh Heneghan 1-0-3, Enda Smith and Dylan Ruane 0-0-3 each, Keith Doyle 0-0-2, Colm Neary, Robert Heneghan, Paul Carey (f) and Conor Hand 0-0-1 each.
Mayo: Kobe McDonald 0-1-4 (tpf), Ryan O’Donoghue 1-1-2 (tpf, 2f), Conor Loftus and Paddy Durcan 0-0-2 each, Jordan Flynn, Bob Tuohy, Jack Carney and Matthew Ruane 0-0-1 each.
Mayo: Rob Hennelly; Jack Coyne, Rory Brickenden, Enda Hession; Sam Callinan, Conor Loftus, Paddy Durcan; Bob Tuohy, David McBrien; Jack Carney, Ryan O’Donoghue, Jordan Flynn; Cian McHale, Aidan O’Shea, Kobe McDonald. Subs: Tommy Conroy (for McHale ht), Donnacha McHugh (for Brickenden 41), Fergal Boland and Matthew Ruane (for O’Shea and Tuohy 44), Cillian O’Connor (for Loftus 55).
Roscommon: Conor Carroll; Patrick Gavin, Caelim Keogh, Eoin McCormack; Eoin Ward, Ronan Daly, Senan Lambe; Keith Doyle, Conor Ryan; Dylan Ruane, Enda Smith, Darragh Heneghan; Diarmuid Murtagh, Colm Neary, Robert Heneghan. Subs: Paul Carey (for Keogh 49), Conor Hand (for R Heneghan 52), Robbie Dolan (for Lambe 58), Shane Cunnane (for Ryan 60), Niall Higgins (for D Heneghan 68).
REF: David Coldrick (Meath)
