Wee men were beaten all ends up

Traditionally, following Mayo GAA comes with a health warning even at the best of times, so when I turned to our sports editor Anthony Hennigan with 25 minutes to go in the Croke Park press area to say “Louth are gone”, he would have been well within his rights to rein me in. He didn’t though. Indeed, he nodded in agreement. It is not often since the turn of the millennium that Mayo has dished out hammerings like the one seen last Saturday evening.

In recent years, Mayo have been more likely to be on the receiving end. Dublin left Mayo battered and bruised after the 2023 All-Ireland quarter-final and 2019 All-Ireland semi-final, and the less said about what Kerry inflicted in the 2004 and 2006 All-Ireland finals, the better.

Mayo’s 17-point winning margin over Louth is only topped by their 22-point demolition of Roscommon in the 2017 All-Ireland quarter-final replay, so it’s only right we all embrace how good this was, and manager Andy Moran made it clear in no uncertain terms in the press briefing after the game that if Mayo fans go ‘a bit nuts, let them’.

Much will be made of Louth’s performance, or lack of, on the day. They very much played like a team who let the occasion get to them, with the county playing in a first All-Ireland semi-final in 69 years. Yet many of the pre-match predictions amongst the national newspapers, caught up in the romanticism of Louth’s journey, tipped the game in favour of the Wee County. Maybe that only focused the minds of the Mayo panel and management even more.

It is understandable that Louth were getting their flowers in the buildup as Gavin Devlin’s men have been one of the stories of the championships and their path mirrored Mayo’s somewhat. On the same weekend that Roscommon sent Mayo out of Connacht in brutal fashion, Louth, the reigning Leinster champions, were dismantled by Dublin. Their response was heroic, and included revenge over the Dubs in Croke Park, Sam Mulroy’s incredible late match-winning goal against Armagh and a stunning All-Ireland quarter-final victory against Monaghan, having played most of the affair with fourteen men.

Yet the physical and emotional energy required over their journey caught up with them, and Mayo were in total control of the game for the most part. The inside line of Kobe McDonald, Darragh Beirne and Ryan O’Donoghue lit up Croke Park again, with 2-17 of Mayo’s overall tally coming from the red-hot attack. They deservedly claimed much of the headlines. But it was the tenacity and feverish intensity that Mayo continuously played with throughout the pitch that eventually overwhelmed Louth as much as the ruthless efficiency of the Mayo attack.

Louth were getting joy on the kickouts, Dara McDonnell in particular making life difficult for the men from the west, but Mayo’s ravenous appetite to win the ball back was a joy to behold. Ryan O’Donoghue led from the front while Enda Hession, Sam Callinan, Eoin McGreal, Stephen Coen and the magnificent David McBrien have helped turn what was a porous Mayo defence early in the season into a watertight backline.

The turnaround in the backline since that Roscommon blitz three months ago has been extraordinary. Having only kept one clean sheet in the championship prior to the All-Ireland quarter-final against Tyrone, Mayo have shutout both Cork and Louth. In fact, Louth didn’t call Jack Livingstone into action even once, which is a far cry from how overworked he was against Monaghan and Meath.

At the other end, as much as Mayo’s lightning attack had received praise, the only complaint could be that McDonald, O’Donoghue, Beirne and the rest hadn’t provided the goals of which they were capable of. They addressed those concerns in style on Saturday however, as O’Donoghue, Beirne and Conor Loftus raised as many green flags in one game as they had in the entire championship to date.

And Louth boss Gavin Devlin was right in his analysis that Mayo could have had four or five more, with Beirne denied on another three occasions by Louth goalkeeper Niall McDonnell, who also was on hand to prevent O’Donoghue and Tommy Conroy from adding more.

By the time O’Donoghue’s second-half chance came around, Louth were like a boxer being kept standing by the ropes and it was when I made my ‘bold’ proclamation about Louth’s chances, or lack of, from thereon.

Loftus then delivered the third and final goal and had it been a fight, David Coldrick would have stopped it right then and there.

Whether I can make that same call – one way or the other – at any point in the final against Kerry is another story. But given how this championship has gone so far, could you really rule it out?

********* 

It would be remiss to not mention the efforts of the Mayo senior camogie team, who were in action in the All-Ireland Junior Championship final against Monaghan earlier on Saturday.

They were chasing a league and championship double in their first year back but unfortunately, they were narrowly beaten in the end by Monaghan, whom they had defeated in the league decider earlier this year.

Mayo looked all but beaten as the final quarter approached but battled back valiantly as the game entered the melting pot in added time. The gap was too much to overcome but the panel, managed by Des Joyce and Peter Dooley, should be immensely proud of their efforts all year.

It is a long road ahead, but the future of Mayo Camogie looks bright if their 2026 campaign is anything to go by.