Mayo keep eyes on the prize as Down out
Last September the Westerners were within touching distance of the Tom Markham Cup, only for Tyrone to scramble a draw and then clinically finish the job off in the replay. In three weeks’ time, it will be an Ulster force in opposition once more in the shape of an imposing Armagh outfit. But there was enough evidence yesterday to suggest Mayo can depart with silverware in tow.
Mayo’s victory yesterday shared uncanny similarities with Armagh’s semi-final victory over Kerry last week. The six-point winning margin was the same, with just a slight number differential, 2-9 to 0-9 as opposed to 2-10 to 0-10 last week.
Gavin McParland’s brace of goals had been central to Armagh defeating Kerry, and seven days later it was Ballintubber youngster Cillian O’Connor who discovered the happy knack of hitting the net for Mayo. In the 34th minute O’Connor latched onto a long ball punted forward and produced a beautifully deft finish to flick past James Deeny, and into the corner of the net. Down were still reeling from that blow, when O’Connor struck again three minutes later.
He won a hard ball in the square and off-loaded to Jack McDonnell, and after McDonnell’s shot was smartly blocked by Down netminder Deeny, O’Connor displayed fine awareness to bury the rebound.
Those scores propelled Mayo into a 2-6 to 0-7 lead and completely changed the course the game. But what also proved crucial was the fact that for the second week in a row, Croke Park witnessed a goal-keeping tour de force. Last week Kerry’s Paul O’Sullivan prevented his side suffering a shellacking against Armagh, whereas yesterday Mayo’s Michael Slingermann produced a series of splendid blocks that preserved his team’s advantage.
Slingermann began by adroitly tipping away a low drive in the 15th minute by Down wing-back Fergal McEvoy, before serving up the best snapshots of his ability in the second-half. In the 36th minute Slingermann palmed away a blast by Niall McParland and was then grateful to see Matthew Bagnall hammer the rebound into the side-netting.
Further heroics arrived in the 46th minute when he foiled Ryan O’Hare at his near post and in the 53rd minute he beat away a blistering strike by Caolan Mooney.
Afterwards, Mayo manager Ray Dempsey showered praise on both his goal-getter and goal-saver.
“We took our goals well in the second-half through Cillian. They were hugely important to us. The difference was that they didn’t take theirs. But that was due to very good goalkeeping on our part. It’s very easy to overlook goalkeepers when you’re doing trials and all that stuff with minors. But I think it’s paid for us to have a goalkeeper in there like Michael. He was our man-of-the-match.”
“We should have been ever further ahead at half-time,” winced Down boss Mark Turley afterwards. “We certainly had the chances. But then those two goals came as real sucker punches.” When forecasting the likely victors at the interval, there was only one logical conclusion to arrive at. Down were moving with greater dynamism, style and thrust. They had a starring double-act up front in full-forward Ross McGarry and wing-forward Caolan Mooney. McGarry was a superb focal point and kicked the ball immaculately from play and frees, while Mooney was terrific in his astute positioning and elegant finishing. Between them they divvied out Down’s entire first-half tally of seven points.
Mayo had struggled yet they were still very much in contention. Aidan Walsh’s assured freetaking kept them in touch as he landed four first-half points, while Darren Coen popped over another.
That first-half Mayo listlessness was eradicated in the second-half. They fought ferociously for possession, upper their work-rate enormously and benefited from a slew of shrewd positional moves. Aidan Walsh came out to centre-forward where he pitched in to the ball-winning sector in the middle, while Danny Kirby grew in stature. In defence Shane McDermott was delegated to watch Mooney, while Keith Rogers tightened up on McGarry. The moves worked splendidly. And with their twin attacking blades blunted, Down looked bereft of ideas up front.
Their difficulties were best exemplified by the fact that they only notched two points in the entire second-half. One was a free from McGarry in the dying embers, while for their other it took half-back Fergal McEvoy striding forward in the 47th minute to show the way, as he boomed over a marvellous effort. In contrast Mayo pressed on after those two O’Connor goals, grabbing points from Alex Corduff, John Carney and a late Walsh free to copperfasten their six-point winning advantage.
Scorers for Mayo: C O’Connor 2-0, A Walsh 0-6 (0-6f), D Coen, A Corduff, J Carney 0-1 each.
Scorers for Down: R McGarry 0-5 (0-2f, 0-1 ‘45), C Mooney 0-3, F McEvoy 0-1.
Subs for Mayo: I Costello for Coen (ht), J McDonnell for Herbert (half-time), J Carney for Corduff (51), B Ruttledge for Durkin (60), M McCormack for Gavin (60).
Subs for Down: M Haughey for Clarke (blood) (21), Clarke for Haughey (ht), R O’Hare for Bagnall (39), M Haughey for Clarke (42), P Quinn for McKibben (47), K Maguire for Deeny (60) .
Referee: B O’Shea (Dublin).
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