Winless Mayo overpowered by slick Sligo Rovers
Mayo's Miguel Ruiz Tully sends his header wide of the target. Pictures: John Corless
League of Ireland football is proving challenging for Mayo FC’s academy teams, none more so than the Under-20s who are still searching for their first point after four games.
On Saturday afternoon, Sligo Rovers proved too strong for Mayo in a one-sided contest at The Showgrounds, with the visitors offering little threat in attack. There were some encouraging moments, particularly in the first half when Mayo competed well and their attacking set pieces are improving. But the side still needs to create more chances and take them to make progress. Once again, Mayo conceded height across the pitch and were up against a side that clearly had more experience of playing together.
Sligo enjoyed most of the early possession but initially struggled to break down a Mayo defence in which centre-back Cathal Gavin and goalkeeper Fionn Barnes, both formerly of Moyne Villa, performed well. Daviti Tsikarishvili forced a save from Sligo goalkeeper Zach Gethins after 21 minutes in Mayo’s first real attack.
By that stage, however, Sligo had already tested the Mayo defence several times. Barnes in particular impressed, producing a superb triple save after 18 minutes as the home side piled on the pressure.
The breakthrough came midway through the half when Sligo’s tall centre-forward Rashid Yeboah reacted quickest after a defensive mistake, cleverly back-heeling the ball to the net to give the hosts the lead. Minutes later, Mayo’s closest effort came when Aron Heaney’s corner found Miguel Ruiz Tully at the near post. His glancing header beat everybody but went narrowly wide at the back post.
Sligo took full control after the break. Despite a determined display in midfield from Mayo’s best performer on the day, David Owusu, the home side gradually tightened their grip on the game.
Yeboah struck again before the hour mark to double Sligo’s advantage, and Aidan Gabbidon added a third late on when he drove the ball home to complete a comfortable win for the hosts.
Mayo manager Anthony O’Neill knows his side were well beaten. “It wasn’t down to luck today, they were a much better team,” he told the . “There wasn’t too much in the first-half. It was 1-0 at half-time,” he said. “But the second half wasn’t a good performance by us. We’re not scoring goals. Any chances we have, we’re not being clinical enough. We conceded a few bad goals today. That takes the game away from you.”
O’Neill also accepted the physical challenge Mayo face in the group. “There is obviously a gap there. Sligo are a bigger, physically stronger team, just like the others we have played,” he said. “Nobody can deny that.” Once next week’s home game against Athlone is out of the way, all teams in the group will have played each other once and O’Neill believes the team should be better prepared. “We’ll have played everybody once and we’ll know what everyone’s about,” he said.
Results so far leave Mayo with work to do. “We’ve played four and lost four and we’re bottom of the table,” he said. “There’s lots of room for improvement.”
David Owusu said that the first half was closely contested. “They went one up from our own mistakes. Coming into the second half, I feel like we didn't come out of the dressing room, to be honest. They came out stronger. They wanted to play. We didn't want to play, really.”
Owusu was forced off with a hamstring injury but hopes to be back next week.
“I'm unlucky with that,” he said, “but hopefully I can bounce back from it. That's what we have to do as a team. It’s obviously tough because the teams we are playing have trained with each other since they were seven or eight years old and we are a new team. But these are not losses, they're lessons. We're learning from them and we're going into the second round of matches I think that we're going to do better.”
Conor Cannon is a big man, and he lined out in the middle of the park for Sligo on Saturday, but he looks more comfortable at centre-back. He and Jamie O’Malley, the Sligo right back, are both from Westport while substitute Chris Tarpey is from Kiltimagh.
Cannon was on the bench for Sligo’s senior team the night before in their loss to Shamrock Rovers, as was Gabbidon. It will be interesting to see in a few years if Mayo will be able to retain their top players when the Mayo senior side takes off.
Sligo Rovers: Zach Gethins; Jamie O’Malley, David Jonathan, Daniel Cunningham, Oisin Kelly: Aidan Gabbidon, Corey McCay-Lavery, Conor Cannon, Rashid Yeboah, Callum Lynch, Cristian Donlon-Goncalves. Subs: Mantis Stoskus (for Donlon-Gonglaves 3), Eoin Mongan and Ross Ruane Dalton (for Yeboah and McCay-Lavery 65), Jayden Reynolds and Oisin Keenan (for Gabbidon and Stoskus 84).
Mayo: Fionn Barnes; Daniel Lynch, Cathal Gavin, Zach Stone, Miguel Ruiz Tully; Aron Heaney, Guga Kokaia, David Owusu, Enzo Bueno: JP Collins, Daviti Tsikarishvili. Subs: Padraig Heinz-Ward (for Kokaia 59), Noah Ward (for Collins 61), Jack Naylor (for Owusu 63).
REF: Keenan Deering (Sligo.)
