Slick Sligo stamp their authority over Mayo

Gaelic Masters Football Championship – Round 6 

Sligo 1-15 

Mayo 0-11 

Anthony Hennigan at Swinford Amenity Park 

It was a case of masters giving an exhibition, as Sligo powered their way to a seven points victory over Mayo in Saturday’s Gaelic Masters showdown in Swinford. The Yeats County side was loaded with inter-county talent of old, and even has ex-senior boss Paul Taylor in charge, and the slickness and cohesiveness of their display was simply too much for the home side to handle.

Eight of Sligo’s starting team scored from play compared to just two Mayo players, and where four Sligo men scored more than once, Jimmy Killeen was the only Mayo player to raise more than one flag – and he began the game on the bench.

You could have said the writing was on the wall inside the first minute when Sligo full-forward Kenneth Sweeney hooked up with Alan Dunne to release former League of Ireland star Conor O’Grady and he whistled a goal chance just over the Mayo crossbar. Sweeney, two frees, and James Leonard added further points and by the sixth minute, the Black and White were already 0-4 to no score ahead.

A quick free by Cormac Healy gave Michael Gallagher the space to whip over Mayo’s opening point, however, Tony Taylor negated that point while full-back Ross Donovan sparked a move that ended with Alan Dunne curling over, while Daniel Davey’s first of three first-half points left Sligo 0-7 to 0-1 ahead after only 12 minutes.

The midfield partnership of former Sligo senior teammates Tony Taylor and Johnny Davey was the platform upon which their team’s early dominance was formed but Mayo, who introduced Michael Moyles and Jimmy Killeen to the fray, were much more competitive in a second quarter that saw the teams share 10 points evenly.

Moyles landed a massive point off his left boot from the left wing and full-forward Michael McNamara forced an overturn that saw Joey Maloney kick Mayo’s third point. And while Sligo retaliated with points by Daniel Davey and Ian Rossiter (another of the ex-Sligo Rovers players on show), it took a brilliant save by their goalkeeper Darren Kearns to prevent the Green and Red from bagging the game’s opening goal. Joey Maloney drove at the heart of the Sligo defence and let fly with a shot that seemed destined for the top right corner but Kearns flung himself across and with the tips of his fingers, managed to divert the ball against the post.

To rub salt into the wound, Sligo would hit three more quality points in-a-row, through Daniel Davey, Tony Taylor and Kenneth Sweeney, his first from play, to lead 0-12 to 0-4 after 25 minutes, after which a brace from play by Jimmy Killeen reduced Mayo’s arrears back to six at half-time, 0-12 to 0-6.

Killeen picked up where he left off when scoring two more points inside five minutes of the restart, the first off Brian Maloney’s pinpoint delivery, the other from a free won by Michael Gallagher. But Sligo delivered a killer blow two minutes later when John Marren fired home the game’s only goal.

Johnny Davey had already scored a second-half point for the visitors when James Leonard lofted a high ball into the Mayo goalmouth from the right wing, with Marren beating Mayo ‘keeper Kieran O’Malley to the jump and flicking to the net to give his side a 1-14 to 0-8 lead.

The away side would only add one more point for the rest of the game, scored by Leonard in the 43rd minute, but they had a sufficient cushion to see the contest out with relative ease. James Killeen, a free, Cormac Healy, a free, and James Cullinane hit points for Mayo who had a chance to cut the gap to four points in the 52nd minute, but John Reilly’s goal effort was stopped by the legs of Kearns.

While Mayo’s season is far from over, this only being their second defeat in six games, the future is more certain for Sligo whose win has moved them into the Gaelic Masters plate semi-final playoffs.

Scorers – Sligo: John Marren 1-0, Kenneth Sweeney (2f) and Daniel Davey 0-3 each, James Leonard and Tony Taylor 0-2 each, Conor O’Grady, Alan Dunne, Johnny Davey and Ian Rossiter 0-1 each.

Mayo: Jimmy Killeen 0-6 (3f), Michael Gallagher, Michael Moyles, Joey Maloney, Cormac Healy (f) and James Cullinane 0-1 each.

Mayo: Kieran O’Malley; Pat Kelly, Sean Lenehan, Declan Doyle; Jarlath Varley, Colm Garvey, John Reilly; Paul Coleman, Myles Fallon; Jarlath McDonagh, Michael Gallagher, Cormac Healy; Joey Maloney, Michael McNamara, Liam McDonnell. Subs used: Michael Moyles, Jimmy Killeen, Brian Maloney, James Cullinane, Brian McDonnell, John McDonagh.

Sligo: Darren Kearns; Damien Kelly, Ross Donovan, Sean Stagg; Jarlath Burke, Colin Neary, Kevin Gallagher; Tony Taylor, Johnny Davey; James Leonard, Alan Dunne, Daniel Davey; Conor O’Grady, Kenneth Sweeney, John Marren. Subs: Brian Og Murphy, Ian Rossiter, Karl O’Neill, Paddy Gormally, Neil Smith, Robert Nealon.

REF: Kieran Quinn (Galway)