Opportunity knocks as teen spirit inspires Mayo breakthrough
Cork’s Seán Meehan tries to halt the progress of Mayo corner-forward Darragh Beirne who was named man of the match.
11 points by teenagers Darragh Beirne and Kobe McDonald and some inspirational guidance by Ryan O’Donoghue helped Mayo book their place in the All-Ireland SFC semi-finals for the first time since 2021, as they punished a wasteful Cork side in Croke Park on Saturday.
O’Donoghue was the game’s top scorer with eight points, Beirne walked away with the man-of-the-match award and McDonald’s silky skills lit up the GAA’s greatest sporting theatre, to add further confusion to this year’s Connacht championship exit.
Andy Moran’s side are a team transformed from that which in the space of 40-odd minutes had gone from leading Roscommon by six points to suffering the county’s heaviest championship defeat at home in 70 years. Now they stand only 70 minutes from an All-Ireland SFC Final.
And while everything is still far from perfect (Cork contributed greatly to their own downfall), the Green and Red deserve praise for the manner in which they have turned their season around. A second championship defeat followed, but even that two points loss to Tyrone in Omagh – a game that could easily have gone in Mayo’s favour – has been given further context after the Red Hands’ tremendous display against defending All-Ireland champions Kerry in the other of last Saturday’s quarter-finals.
The aforementioned Mayo full-forward line scored all but four of their side’s 23 points – and nine points more from play then their Cork counterparts – on a day when the cumbersome Rebels’ attack was guilty of fifteen wides and of fluffing a couple of goal chances. Mayo were far more economical in front of the posts and yet if you were to pick a hole, it’s that they didn’t raise a green flag against a Cork outfit for whom this was a first clean sheet in six championship games.
In fact, only Kildare, long since gone from the senior championship, have scored fewer than Mayo’s three goals this summer. And yet Mayo are still standing. Still fighting. Still believing. Cork, meanwhile, are mulling over a seventh consecutive championship defeat in Croke Park.
Since Cork beat Galway at HQ in an All-Ireland qualifier in 2013, Mayo have now won 15 times there in championship and drawn another five games, not to mention a couple of NFL Division 1 Final wins, and yet many were tipping the Leesiders to prevail on Saturday – their shock victory away to firm All-Ireland contenders Donegal and the two week break it allowed, obviously still fresh in many people’s minds.
Mayo were in no mood to genuflect however, and within 90 seconds of throw-in Kobe McDonald and Ryan O’Donoghue had fired over a couple of points. Paul Towey, a surprise inclusion at centre-forward, was centrally involved early doors, but Mayo would add just another point in the next 20 minutes and could be thankful that Cork struggled almost as badly.
Steven Sherlock, from a ’45, and midfielder Colm O’Callaghan had levelled the game by the 10th minute but already, Sherlock, from another ’45, Dara Sheedy and Brian O’Driscoll had hit wides while a dribbly shot by Chris Óg Jones was pushed past the post by Mayo goalkeeper Jack Livingstone.
O’Donoghue had claims for a penalty waved away by referee Martin McNally and while the ingenuity of McDonald, who handpassed to himself over Sherlock, helped create an opening for Darragh Beirne who tidily opened his account, scores at the other end by Mark Cronin, a two-point free, and Ian Maguire saw Cork take the lead for the first time, 0-5 to 0-3, after 19 minutes.
Injury had by now forced Mayo to replace U20 corner-back Eoin McGreal with Diarmuid Duffy, and they would spend the remainder of the half chasing the coattails of Cork. O’Donoghue and Jack Carney had added to Mayo’s wide tally before Beirne pointed off his right, but Sherlock negated that and missed a two-pointer before Kanturk’s Paul Walsh dummied inside Carney to open his account and leave the Munster outfit 0-7 to 0-4 ahead.
The game was levelled after a glorious kick from outside the arc by McDonald was augmented by a single from Ryan O’Donoghue, who also had a goal attempt blocked on the half hour by Ian Maguire, but despite Cork’s wide count growing to nine, it looked as though Sherlock, a ’45, and Jones had given their side the half-time advantage until a breach in the final seconds allowed O’Donoghue to fire over a two-pointer which levelled matters at 0-9 apiece.
The Mayo defence had no doubt been tighter than when fortunate to concede only two goals in the first-half of their game against Meath seven days earlier, however, problems, while not quite so pronounced, remained in the area of securing primary possession at midfield. But like against the Royals, an increased hunger for breaking ball provided the platform for Mayo to impose themselves better on John Cleary’s side after the restart.
Cork did regain the lead when centre-back Tommy Walsh supplied Chris Óg Jones who prodded over inside two minutes but the Mayo response was firm and emphatic, as Darragh Beirne lofted over a pair of two-pointers, one from a free, either side of O’Donoghue releasing Kobe McDonald who tore through the heard of the Cork defence and settled for a point.
The intensity of Mayo’s defending, led by Enda Hession, captain Jack Coyne and Sam Callinan, was noticeably beginning to unsettle the Cork attackers – Sean McDonnell and Mark Cronin were guilty of poor wides while several overturns raised the decibels of the sizeable Mayo support – and a better pass by the equally influential David McBrien at the other end could even have sent Callinan through on the Cork goal.
The Rebels scored four of the game’s next five points, with a pair from Paul Walsh and one apiece by Sherlock and O’Callaghan, to make it a one point game, 0-15 to 0-14, entering the final quarter. And John Cleary, the son of a Claremorris man, wasn’t going to die wondering and introduced five Cork subs in a 17-minute window.
The bigger impact, however, came from Mayo’s bench.
Ryan O’Donoghue, who had scored the solitary Mayo point during Cork’s purple patch, raised another white flag before substitute Matthew Ruane replaced Bob Tuohy and immediately played the final passes as Jack Carney booted over a two pointer and lively half-time substitute Tommy Conroy also split the posts, to leave Mayo 0-19 to 0-14 in front after 57 minutes.
Ruane and Conroy even combined to create a shot on goal for first-half sub Diarmuid Duffy that ‘keeper Patrick Doyle smothered – but Cork weren’t prepared to go down without a fight. Steven Sherlock, excellently marshalled throughout by Donnacha McHugh, penalised Mayo indiscipline when curling over a two-point free, and while Conroy set-up Darragh Beirne who nursed the ball over from tight on the left, sub Brian Hurley replied for Cork to leave it a three-point game, 0-20 to 0-17, after 63 minutes.
That gap would have disappeared entirely without Mayo stopper Jack Livingstone’s excellent save from Conor Corbett, after a flowing move involving Sherlock and half-backs Brian O’Driscoll and Tommy Walsh, and Mayo doubled Cork’s agony when racing upfield where Tommy Conroy earned a free for O’Donoghue to whip over.
Conor Loftus, whose starting place had earlier gone to Towey, restored the five points gap, and an O’Donoghue free stretched that out to six with four minutes remaining.
McBrien fouled Ruairí Deane to prevent a goal opportunity and while Sherlock slotted over the free, a better team than Cork could have severely punished Mayo when intercepting Ryan O’Donoghue’s risky cross-field pass to Jack Carney and counterattacking, with 90 seconds remaining. A goal at that stage would have left a grandstand finish, however, Mayo’s scrambled defence overturned possession and instead, Kobe McDonald, the clock in his favour, was racing through at the other end seconds later for a goal chance that was blocked.
While Mayo did lose a 2023 round robin game, this is their fourth time in-a-row to beat Cork in straight knockout championship matches, stretching back to 2011.
Could the good times be about to return?
Scorers – Mayo: Ryan O’Donoghue 0-1-6 (tpf, 2f), Darragh Beirne 0-2-3 (1tpf), Kobe McDonald 0-1-2, Jack Carney 0-1-0, Tommy Conroy and Conor Loftus 0-0-1 each.
Cork: Steven Sherlock 0-1-5 (tpf, 2 ‘45s, 1f), Paul Walsh 0-0-3, Mark Cronin 0-1-0f, Colm O’Callaghan and Chris Óg Jones 0-0-2 each, Ian Maguire and Brian Hurley 0-0-1 each.
Mayo: Jack Livingstone; Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh, Eoin McGreal; Sam Callinan, David McBrien, Enda Hession; Bob Tuohy, Jack Carney; Stephen Coen, Paul Towey, Jordan Flynn; Darragh Beirne, Ryan O’Donoghue, Kobe McDonald. Subs: Diarmuid Duffy (for McGreal 12), Tommy Conroy (for Towey ht), Conor Loftus (for Coen 49), Matthew Ruane (for Tuohy 53), Rory Brickenden (for Duffy 65).
Cork: Patrick Doyle; Maurice Shanley, Daniel O’Mahony, Sean Meehan; Brian O’Driscoll, Tommy Walsh, Rory Maguire; Ian Maguire, Colm O’Callaghan; Paul Walsh, Dara Sheedy, Sean McDonnell; Mark Cronin, Chris Óg Jones, Steven Sherlock. Subs: Ruairí Deane (for McDonnell 48), Conor Corbett (for Sheedy 50), Brian Hurley (for Cronin 61), Sean Brady (for R Maguire 62), Sean Walsh (for P Walsh 65).
REF: Martin McNally (Monaghan)
