North and South split down the middle in thriller draw

Mayo SFC – Group 1 – Round 1

Garrymore 2-11 

Crossmolina Deel Rovers 0-17

John Paul Heaney at Garrymore

Hop-balls, confusing calls, disallowed goals, stunning scores, impact substitutes, black cards, and so much more – those fortunate enough to be in Garrymore to witness their clash with Crossmolina on Sunday afternoon certainly won’t forget this one for a while.

The football played by both sides was commendable, with the result in the melting pot up until the last beat of this game that ebbed and flowed.

Garrymore, one of the most consistent teams in the senior championship over the years, came up against Brian Benson’s hugely exciting young army, but in the end, both sides had to come away with a share of the spoils.

It could have been so much better for the reigning All-Ireland Intermediate Champions as James Maheady had a chance with last kick of the game free to win it, but his effort went wide, which on so many occasions, would have sailed over and it was not to be.

Garrymore had, what many at the south venue deemed a perfectly legitimate goal ruled out for a square ball ten minutes from time that would have put the home side three clear, and victory would have been a lot more likely.

“A little bit disappointed in the end to be honest,” was how Garrymore joint-manager Fintan Forde felt afterwards in speaking to the Western People.

“I felt we had a legitimate goal there ruled out ten minutes from time, but the game took on a life of its own after that. We were two points down with a few minutes left, but credit to our boys, we dug deep, got the two last scores of the game to get a draw and we move on with the point.

“I was very happy with the work rate of our boys but that is nothing new to this team. They work tremendously hard for each other out there when their backs are to the wall, and when they look like being beaten, that’s when they really dig deep and they just keep going, keep going and they know if they just keep this attitude going, they will be in it until the end of the match. There will always be a chance of snatching a draw, or even better, winning,” said Forde.

Garrymore played with the strong breeze to their backs for the first half and were going to have to be in a good position at the interval to be in with a chance of winning this tie. That they were, but only just, on a scoreline of 2-4 to 0-9.

Their second goal came in injury-time from Shane Nally who palmed home to an empty net on the end of a short pass from brother Trevor. Darren Quinn had got Garrymore’s first goal in the 13th minute, finishing a move that came from a Crossmolina kick out and not for the first time, involved the Nally brothers in the build-up for the Carras native to finish to the roof of the net.

Four of Crossmolina’s nine first half points came from ace marksman James Maheady, one from play and three frees, while young midfielder Kobe McDonald was their other chief score-getter with three points, including a two-pointer from play, along with Oisin Deane and Conor Loftus getting on the scoresheet.

Crossmolina were no doubt edging possession, especially around centre field in the early stages of the second half and kicked three points in contrast to Garrymore’s one. Two further frees from Maheady and Patrick Leddy came about but nothing much ever separated the sides throughout the second half with a nip-and-tuck affair throughout.

Substitute Andy Glennon, a former Roscommon senior footballer, made his championship debut for Garrymore from the bench, and he kicked a free while Eoin McGreal and young Conor Lydon both added a point each from play.

The sides were deadlocked on 2-8 to 0-14 after James Maheady kicked a two-point free for Crossmolina with just six minutes remaining, but in the closing stages, the visitors looked set for victory as they kicked three late points to lead by two. Dylan Flynn, Maheady with his seventh free and Niall Coggins all scored with just ninety seconds remaining but victory was snatched away from them as two minutes into injury-time.

Darren Quinn kicked a fabulous score from play before the resulting kickout went badly wrong. Garrymore, down to fourteen with Cathal Slattery being black carded late on, won a free and Andy Glennon made a dream debut, kicking the resulting free over the bar four minutes into added on time for a share of the spoils.

Scorers - Garrymore: Darren Quinn 1-0-3 (0-0-1f), Shane Nally 1-0-0, Cathal Slattery 0-1-0, Andy Glennon 0-0-2 (2f), Micháel Connolly, Trevor Nally (1f), Eoin McGreal and Conor Lydon 0-0-1 each.

Crossmolina: James Maheady 0-1-7 (0-1f-6f), Kobe McDonald 0-1-1, Conor Loftus, Oisin Deane, Patrick Leddy, Dylan Flynn and Niall Coggins 0-0-1 each.

Garrymore: Brian Lynskey; Jamie Oates, Caolan Crowe, Colin Commins; Conor Lydon, Shane Nally, Justin Commins; Liam Og Horkan, Eoin McGreal; Darren Quinn, Cathal Slattery, Gary Golden; Micháel Connolly, Trevor Nally, Aaron Hughes. Subs: Andy Glennon (for Quinn 25), David Dolan (for Hughes 37), Darren Quinn (for Connolly 48), Enda Hession (for T. Nally 52), Patrick Hession (for Dolan 60-inj).

Crossmolina: Patrick Loftus; Sean Og McGuinness, Kevin Mulhern, Mathew Gordetskyy; Mikie Loftus, Conor Loftus, Josh Moyles; Jordan Flynn, Kobe McDonald; Dylan Flynn, Oisin Deane, Niall Coggins; James Maheady, Patrick Leddy, Diarmuid Coggins. Subs: Fionán Duffy (for Deane 48), Aaron Coggins (for M. Loftus 48), Diarmuid Walsh (for D. Flynn 55).

REF: Shane Corcoran (Islandeady).