Revenge on the mind as Mayo travel to home of boys in black
In what could be a potential final pairing in a couple of weeks’ time, Mayo and Sligo meet in Markievicz Park tomorrow (Wednesday) in their final round robin game of the 2025 Connacht U20 Championship.
For Peadar Gardiner’s side the equation is simple: they are into a semi-final no matter what happens in the final round of fixtures but avoid defeat and the Green and Red are into a first Connacht U20 final since the infamous 2022 decider, where Sligo scored 2-1 in the final eight minutes to win their first provincial title at this or the former U21 grade.
Should Sligo win, they will be into the final on the head-to-head record, and Mayo will meet either Roscommon or Galway in the semi-final. The Tribesmen, who have played all four of their games in the group, face an anxious wait on how Roscommon fare against Leitrim. Should the Rossies prevail, Galway will be dumped out of the championship.
It is always a dangerous mindset that can surround a group that does not need to win to qualify for the final, but Mayo will be eager to inflict a defeat on the Yeats County to not just maintain a 100% record going into the final but record a first win over Sligo since 2019.
Sligo have had Mayo’s number at his level for the past three seasons. As well as the 2022 final, Mayo were proverbially beaten black and blue by the Black and White as another Sligo magical journey saw them comprehensively beat Mayo on their way to retaining the Connacht title and reach their first ever All-Ireland final. Last year’s campaign for the Mayo U20’s was one to forget as they finished bottom of their group, and Sligo mounted a big second-half comeback to send Mayo out of the championship.
But this is a different Mayo team to not just the one of previous years, but of last year’s tough outing. Of the fifteen who started against Sligo last year, there are only seven survivors, while Tom Lydon and Paul Gilmore also came off the bench. The other seven of Rio Mortimer, John MacMonagle, Diarmuid Duffy, Cathal Keaveney, Oisin Cronin, Darragh Beirne and Niall Hurley, have clearly benefitted from a year of U20 football, and along with Lydon and Gilmore have formed the spine of an excellent team so far under Gardiner.
Mayo may have left plenty of scores behind them in their opening game against Roscommon but still had enough to win while the game of the Connacht championship so far came in Tuam Stadium, as 1-9 from Lydon and a late two-pointer by Beirne helped them overcome Galway in a barnstormer. Matters were much more straightforward against an understrength Leitrim side as they put 5-16 past the Canaries, with Beirne helping himself to 2-2 off the bench.
Tom Lydon is having a brilliant championship to date, with The Neale marksman scoring 2-21 across three games and alongside Hurley and Kiltane’s Josh Carey, they have formed a lethal full-forward line. When one considers that all three of Beirne’s appearances have come off the bench, with Gardiner managing his minutes so far due to a busy 2024 with Claremorris, Mayo and St Colman’s College on their way to a Hogan Cup final, Gardiner arguably has options in attack that no other manager in Connacht does The job must be finished in Sligo, however. After an understrength side lost to Roscommon in their opener, the Yeats County bounced back with a narrow win over Galway before coming through a shootout against Leitrim last week (see report on page 6) to put themselves in pole position of, at least, a semi-final spot.
Mayo’s power up front may just see them over the line, but Sligo will push them all the way.
