Mayo recover some pride despite elimination to Connacht kings Galway
The Mayo U18 squad pictured before their FAI Youth Interleague encounter with Galway at Solar 21 Park. Pictures: Michael Donnelly
Mayo were up against it going into this encounter as their 7-3 defeat in Eamonn Deacy Park left them needing a win by a five-goal margin to progress. They fell short of that target but were far more of a match for their Tribal counterparts at home, who themselves were crowned Connacht champions with this result.
It was a nightmare start for the Mayo in the dense fog as in the first minute they gifted the Galwegians a golden chance. A poorly hit back pass towards Thomas Bourke killed the defender’s chance, as Scott Dillon pounced to round the ‘keeper for Mayo and Daithi Nevin could only watch stranded as the Maroon number 8 rolled it home.
Jamie Clarke replied a few minutes later with a rare half-chance in a tame first half, latching on to a pass before striking it off his left cutting in. His tame effort was straight at James Murphy in the Galway net. On the 15-minute mark, Galway forward Evan Moran found himself on the end of a drilled cross from the left, but the forward could only poke it wide left on the stretch.
Dan O’Malley was at the forefront of a few Mayo chances, and he created an opening for Evan Durcan when he took in a pass and turned, laying it off for the laced effort of Durcan but it was again straight at Murphy, comfortably saved.
Mayo equalised seconds before the whistle sounded, striking level through an own goal that came from Cillian Horan of Galway. Jamie Clarke, set up by Marcus Lacuesta, teed up a cross that caused momentary chaos before it was bundled in by Horan.
The second half sparked a much more exciting 45 minutes. Jamie Clarke orchestrated the home sides' first chance striding through midfield, before passing it off to Evan Durcan who moved it to the right wing with Jude Lavin. His cross in was volleyed by the attacking full-back Alex Halpin but the left-back skewed the effort, falling for half-time sub Cillian McGing but he also caught the effort wrong and sent it wide.
Not long after that Dan O’Malley found himself incidentally after a tackle from Evan Durcan on a Galway midfielder in the middle, but one-on-one Murphy denied him.
Mayo had their second goal courtesy of Cillian McGing. He had been played in by Dan O’Malley with a moment of footballing intelligence, receiving a pass before dragging the ball back, and then playing McGing into space in the Galway area. First time McGing fired the ball into the bottom right.
Galway pegged them level again little over five minutes later, Matthew Leonard the unfortunate victim of a handball decision for Mayo within their area, which meant that Scott Dillon stepped up to comfortably tuck the penalty to Daithi Nevin’s left.
In the very next attack Adrian Sotoparra scored a very calm finish after a powerful run through the middle and slotted past Murphy. However, Dillon grabbed his hattrick with a volley following Evan Moran’s hard work up top dispossessing the Mayo defence.
