Solid start to minor campaign by Green and Red
Kobe McDonald scores Mayo's second goal during their six points against the visiting Rossies.
A bombardment of the Mayo goal in stoppage time was much too little too late for Roscommon to alter the outcome of Friday night’s Connacht minor championship opener in Castlebar.
The visitors paid a heavy price for their mid second-half slump, which saw them go from level-pegging with the home side to six points adrift in the space of four minutes. And it got even worse for the Shannonsiders when, by the 56th minute, they trailed by 10 points, as a Mayo team driven by inspirational performances from Kobe McDonald and team captain Tom Hession in particular, launched their claim for the provincial title in an impressive manner.
McDonald, son of Mayo legend Ciaran, who is also the team’s head coach, was undoubtedly the star of the show, striking a goal and five points, with practically each of his scores of an exceptional quality. But this was an all-round solid display by a side that is jointly managed by former Mayo captain David Heaney and Tom Reilly, with no fewer than eight Mayo players contributing to the scoreboard from play.
Backboned by eight players from Crossmolina Deel Rovers, Castlebar Mitchels and Claremorris combined, Mayo’s starting 15 also featured players from the likes of Lacken Sarsfields, Eastern Gaels and Ardnaree Sarsfields, clubs whose players rarely gain county recognition but whose young men, if best at their age now, deserve the establishment of a pathway that offers them every opportunity to become the best at senior level also. But that’s a discussion for a different page.
This was a game that saw both teams score much more heavily after half-time. The first-half was a cagey enough affair albeit Mayo led from the 11th minute. A terrific intercept by Roscommon wing-back Colin Murray resulted in some brilliant interplay and a pointed finish by Dean Casey in the third minute, but it was Murray’s overcarry that allowed Kobe McDonald equalise by sublimely converting off-the-ground from 47-metres.
A foul on Casey saw Stephen Tighe restore Roscommon’s lead but that was the visitors last score for a quarter hour, with consecutive points by Oisin Deane, his Crossmolina club-mate McDonald and Evan Walsh, after a lovely delivery from centre-back Mark Noonan, sending Mayo 0-4 to 0-2 ahead after 21 minutes.
Both teams would share 10 wides over the course of the opening half and Roscommon’s only other first-half points would come from frees, by Alan Conroy and Dara Curran, but with those separated by singles from play by Harry McHale and Evan Walsh, it was the Green and Red who led 0-6 to 0-4 at the interval, albeit having played with the breeze.
Conor Moriarty, two minutes after the restart, became the fifth Mayo forward to score, when set-up by Kobe McDonald in what initially had looked like a goal chance, but the game was made all square in the 38th minute when a long raking kick towards the Mayo parallelogram saw Dean Casey rise between Mayo goalkeeper Nathan Roddy and corner-back Daithí Butler to fetch the ball and roll it into an empty net.
Roscommon’s joy was short-lived however, all of roughly 30 seconds really, as Andrew Quinn, who was only introduced five minutes earlier, ploughed past three or four would-be tacklers to slide Mayo’s opening goal into the bottom right corner, leaving the scoreboard reading 1-7 to 1-4.
It was a lead that was doubled by points from another sub Joe Forry, Tom Hession and Kobe McDonald, with full-back Hession’s an excellent goal chance where he lashed at a pass from McHale only to see Roscommon ‘keeper Patrick Gaynor fingertip the ball over the crossbar.
Tighe, from play and a free, raised Roscommon’s first white flags of the second-half, on 43 and 48 minutes, but it was only a temporary disruption of Mayo’s dominance, with a third point from play by the excellent Walsh swiftly followed by McDonald slamming home a stunning second Mayo goal on 50-minutes, running onto a delightful ball over the defence and firing into the top left corner.
He then tagged on a brace of frees to bring his personal tally to 1-5 and see the hosts into a 2-13 to 1-6 advantage with four minutes plus stoppage time left to play. That was enough time for Eoin Collins to pull back a goal out of almost nothing, when catching a delivery sent in from the left wing and drilling past Roddy from 13 metres.
Roddy, however, was the equal of Alan Conroy in the final play of the game, when the wing-back stormed forward in search of a third Roscommon goal only for the Ardnaree stopper to superbly push a thunderbolt over the bar.
Round 2 of the Connacht MFC is to be played this Friday but Mayo have a bye, with their next outing on Friday, April 26 when they travel to play arch rivals Galway.
Scorers – Mayo: Kobe McDonald 1-5 (0-3f), Andrew Quinn 1-0, Evan Walsh 0-3, Oisin Deane, Harry McHale, Conor Moriarty, Tom Hession and Joe Forry 0-1 each.
Roscommon: Dean Casey 1-1, Eoin Collins 1-0, Stephen Tighe 0-3 (2f), Alan Conroy 0-2 (1f), Dara Curran 0-1f.
Mayo: Nathan Roddy; Conor Coghill, Tom Hession (c), Daithí Butler; David Hurley, Mark Noonan, Conor Kavanagh; Josh Moyles, Owen Loughney; Harry McHale, Kobe McDonald, Dylan Flynn; Evan Walsh, Conor Moriarty, Oisin Deane. Subs: Andrew Quinn (for McHale 33), Joe Forry (for Moriarty 34), Mark Sheeran and Fionn O’Kinsella (for Loughney and Flynn 54), Oran Murphy (for Kavanagh 56).
Roscommon: Patrick Gaynor; Liam Finneran, Gordon Casey, Martin Connaughton; Alan Conroy, Keelan Kelly (c), Colin Murray; Darragh Devaney, Declan Kennedy; Samuel Male Hannon, Eoin Collins, Cathal Enright; Dara Curran, Stephen Tighe, Dean Casey. Subs: Ciaran Mulry (for Enright 41), Joe McKeon (for Malec Hannon 43), Kyle Mahon (for Murray 52), Conor Kennedy (for Casey 54), Michael Brooks (for Finneran 56).
REF: John Gilmartin (Sligo)
