Mayo’s late rally gets Moran era off to winning start

FBD Insurance Connacht SFL – Round 1 

Mayo 1-17 

Sligo 1-11 

Anthony Hennigan in Fr O’Hara Park, Charlestown 

For a competition that has ran for 30 years, it’s surprising just how few times Mayo and Sligo have met one another in the FBD Connacht Senior Football League. Saturday’s clash was just the second since 2004 and fourth in total. Not a single Mayo player who started the 2018 win over the Yeats County was on the pitch for the throw-in at Charlestown while Darragh Cummins was Sligo’s sole survivor.

When midfielder Cummins was withdrawn from the action on Saturday, 17 minutes remained and his Sligo teammates held a 1-10 to 0-10 advantage, having hit Mayo for 1-6 without reply either side of half-time. Their new management duo of Dessie Sloyan and Eamonn O’Hara used the opportunity of the break in play to make two further changes as well, however, it was the contribution of five points between then and full-time by three Mayo substitutes, allied with a 57th minute goal from corner-back Enda Hession, that saw Andy Moran’s first competitive game in charge of the Green and Red end in a victory that was less comfortable than the scoreline suggests.

Sligo’s lead had actually been five points at one stage and they remained a goal clear of their hosts with 51 of the 60 minutes played, however, as had been done to them earlier, the Green and Red hit the visitors for 1-6 without reply in those final ten minutes to secure their opening win of 2026.

Moran selected an experimental side with just four players who featured in last year’s championship campaign among the starters. The aforementioned Hession was joined in defence by Fenton Kelly while Bob Tuohy and Ryan O’Donoghue were named at midfield and full-forward respectively. There were also four starters who were part of the Mayo side that reached last year’s All-Ireland U20 semi-final, with Eoin McGreal and Colm Lynch picked at right corner-back and left wing-back and Seamus Howard and Darragh Beirne lining out in the attack.

The manager stressed afterwards that his substituting of McGreal and Lynch just before half-time was in no way reflective of their performances but simply done to circumvent the restriction of being allowed a maximum of six second-half substitutions.

It was, however, the pair’s other U20 teammates of last season, Cathal Keaveney and Tom Lydon, who came off the bench to help turn the screw on Sligo down the home straight, with Keaveney kicking a pair of points and Lydon scoring one but also having a telling hand in the creation of Mayo’s goal, which saw the hosts hit the front for the first time in half an hour.

“They’re sticking it to me, the young fellas, they all want to be part of the squad,” admitted Andy Moran afterwards. “Young Lydon comes in there, I think he wins five balls in the inside forward line, gets us up the field and he was brilliant. Keaveney, another one, we played him at half-back, he likes that position and I think he added a lot. His kick-passing in was good.” 

And yet it was one of the old brigade who ended the day as an unlikely top scorer for Mayo, with goalkeeper Robbie Hennelly marking his return from retirement with an early brace of two-point frees that helped his side into a 0-7 to 0-3 lead after 16 minutes. Just as big a help was his 28th minute save from Sligo corner-forward Shane Deignan which kept Mayo three points ahead.

But Hennelly could do little to prevent the visitors from drawing level for the first time in the game a minute later when wing-back Paul Kilcoyne palmed home the game’s opening goal. Conor Sheridan’s long ball was won by full-forward Cian Lally who offloaded to Kilcoyne who finished inside the left post.

You couldn’t exactly say it hadn’t been coming – the probing runs from defence by Luke Casserly and Tommy Ross had been causing Mayo all sorts of bother – but the frustration for the locals was that they themselves had earlier been denied raising green by a wonderful save from Keelan Harte. Eoin McGreal and Michael Plunkett carried possession deep into Sligo territory where Ryan O’Donoghue slipped in Darragh Beirne whose rasping drive was kept out one-handedly by ‘keeper Harte, with Conor Sheridan clearing the danger off the goal-line.

Beirne did have a point from play to his name, Bob Tuohy had kicked a belting two pointer and Kuba Callaghan picked off a single too, but a point on the stroke of half-time by Tubbercurry man Joshua Flynn sent Sligo into the dressing-room with a 1-6 to 0-8 lead, with their other five points supplied by the Deignan brothers Lee (three frees) and Shane.

Factor in Sligo’s eleven other failed attempts at Mayo’s posts in that opening 30 minutes, eight wides, two shorts and Shane Deignan’s goal chance included, and it’s fair to say the Yeats boys had played much of the first-half on their terms. And not much changed in the third quarter either. In fact, they reeled off the opening four points of the second-half through Lee Deignan, two, Cian Lally and Shane Deignan, to lead 1-10 to 0-8 after 40 minutes.

This probably wasn’t how Andy Moran had envisaged his day as going when he awoke just up the road in Ballaghaderreen that morning. But to be fair, his players quickly set to the task of making amends for what up to now had been a somewhat lacklustre effort, with just three scores from play until Darragh Beirne landed his second – and Mayo’s ninth – point, eleven minutes into the second-half.

Quite how Beirne didn’t add a goal 30 seconds later only he’ll know, as he found himself one-on-one with Harte but drilled wide of the bottom left corner. Still, points by centre-back Michael Plunkett, after a clever hand-pass by Ryan O’Donoghue, and O’Donoghue himself, from a free, kept Mayo on Sligo’s coattails, and they could have regained the lead in the 49th minute when Kuba Callaghan linked up with Nathan Moran and Ryan O’Donoghue but his goal attempt was blocked and the Ballagh’ man lashed the rebound high and wide.

Lally and Sheridan set-up Alan McLoughlin to score his first point, leaving Sligo with a 1-11 to 0-11 lead after 51 minutes, but that was also Sligo’s final score of the afternoon, as Mayo perked up significantly.

Sub Cathal Keaveney struck two sweet points from opposite wings and while Robbie Hennelly saw a two-point free tail wide, Mayo were mere moments from taking control of the contest.

A foul that earned McLoughlin a booking inside Mayo’s 45-metre line resulted in the home side driving the restart downfield where Tom Lydon showed superbly to win possession. In the blink of an eye, Ryan O’Donoghue, who had been playing a much deeper role heretofore, was sending a pass across the Sligo goalmouth for Enda Hession to arrive at the back post and palm the ball into the net.

Mayo were now 1-13 to 1-11 in front and they pushed for home with four points in almost as many minutes, through Cian McHale and Tom Lydon from play, which sandwiched converted frees by McHale and O’Donoghue. The Green and Red had gone from three down to six ahead in 10 minutes.

Next Sunday they visit Dr Hyde Park for a Round 2 clash with Roscommon.

Scorers – Mayo: Robbie Hennelly 0-2-0 (2tpf), Enda Hession 1-0-0, Bob Tuohy 0-1-0, Darragh Beirne, Ryan O’Donoghue (2f), Cathal Keaveney and Cian McHale (1f) 0-0-2 each, Kuba Callaghan, Michael Plunkett and Tom Lydon 0-0-1 each.

Sligo: Lee Deignan 0-1-3 (1tpf, 2f), Paul Kilcoyne 1-0-0, Shane Deignan 0-0-3, Joshua Flynn, Cian Lally and Alan McLoughlin 0-0-1 each.

Mayo: Robbie Hennelly; Eoin McGreal, Liam Golden, Enda Hession, Fenton Kelly, Michael Plunkett, Colm Lynch; Bob Tuohy, Brian O’Malley; Nathan Moran, Adam Barrett, Seamus Howard; Darragh Beirne, Ryan O’Donoghue, Kuba Callaghan. Subs: Jack Coyne (for McGreal 27), Stephen Coen (for Lynch 27), Cathal Keaveney (for O’Malley 37), Liam O’Donoghue (for Howard 37), Dylan Thornton (for Tuohy 40), Cian McHale (for Barrett 40), Tom Lydon (for Beirne 48), Diarmuid Duffy (for Kelly 48).

Sligo: Keelan Harte; Tommy Ross, Nathan Mullen, Luke Casserly; Paul Kilcoyne, Jack Lavin, Daire O’Boyle; Darragh Cummins, Conor Sheridan; James Donlon, Alan McLoughlin, Joshua Flynn; Lee Deignan, Cian Lally, Shane Deignan. Subs: Gavin Gorman (for Cummins 43), Michael Lavin (for Kilcoyne 43), Dillon Walsh (for O’Boyle 43).

REF: Jimmy Donoghue (Roscommon)