Steel and skill the winners for Mayo

NORMAL service has been restored in Connacht.

Last year, neither Mayo nor Galway participated in a provincial senior final for the first time since 1947 and the majority of opinion prior to throw-in yesterday seemed to be that the old duopoly would suffer another blow to their prestige.

It was a suspicion arched by the comprehensive win for the Roscommon minors against Galway in the preceding game that offered further proof for those eager to find it that former certainties were being chipped away out west.

Mayo flags were few and far between in the Hyde after a league campaign that almost ended in relegation and an extra-time win over London that was only partially exorcised by an impressive second-half dispatching of Galway in the semi-final.

They looked vulnerable.

Instead, they stepped out onto their opponent’s turf and departed enemy territory having claimed the Nestor Cup for the 43rd time and with Roscommon’s hopes of a rare back-to-back of titles and a burgeoning power base in ruins.

Not that this was a triumph for the old guard in every sense.

Half of James Horan’s side were experiencing the delights of a Connacht final for the first time and they coped with it admirably, especially given the fact that they were just seven weeks removed from their near-disaster in the UK.

Wins like yesterday’s will be dismissed as old hat by their critics who have tended to dismiss Connacht’s internal affairs as irrelevant to a national stage but the sight of goalkeeper Robert Hennelly gushing over the Nestor Cup afterwards spoke volumes.

This may be a seminal moment for Mayo football, a turning on the road that seemed to be taking them to rack and ruin after the truncated campaign last year when Longford turfed them out before summer reached its halfway point.

It wasn’t pretty. On a day like this, with the wind and rain making a mockery of the date on the calendar, endeavour was required and Mayo were more willing to provide it than a Roscommon side that never really found their game.

The home side played the first-half with the elements buffeting their backs but could only reach the interval with a four-point advantage and Mayo manager James Horan admitted later he was more than happy with that state of affairs.

He had good reason to be.

Roscommon peppered the Mayo defence with long balls in that first period but the delivery was erratic and sometimes aimless. Mayo were stifling the volume too, winning more of the ball in midfield and turning copious amounts of possessions over.

There was little to drool over. 14 of the day’s scores would come from dead balls kicked by Cillian O’Connor and Donie Shine but the Roscommon corner-forward did provide some rare delights with two sublime points, one from an angle and another on the turn.

It took Mayo 28 minutes to register their first point from play, courtesy of Andy Moran after a fine team move, but O’Connor was keeping them in touch with a free-taking exhibition, something they didn’t have in the struggles against London and Galway.

O’Connor’s fourth point five minutes into the second-half kick started what we suspected would be an inexorable crawl towards parity but it quickly became apparent that Mayo were going to bypass Roscommon’s total long before the final whistle.

The score in that second period read eight points to two when it was all over and Shine will have some nightmares about that two-point margin having blazed an effort over the bar after 51 minutes with the net at his mercy.

O’Connor took Mayo level eight minutes later and only a poor hand pass from Alan Freeman deprived Trevor Mortimer of a shot on an open goal soon after but O’Connor – who else? — finally gave Mayo the lead for the first time with half a dozen minutes to go.

Shine was handed the opportunity to restore parity as the game tipped into injury-time but here, more than at any time in the afternoon, the sheer power of the wind was emphasised and in the cruellest fashion.

The Clann na nGael forward’s free seemed to be well on course before being held up by the wind and a second effort seconds later suffered a similar fate when it lost power just as it reached the bar and was caught by goalkeeper Robert Hennelly.

Scorers for Mayo: C O’Connor 0-8fs, K McLoughlin, A Dillon, A Moran, E Varley, P Gardiner 0-1 each.

Scorers for Roscommon: D Shine 0-8 (4fs, 1 45), D Ward, C Cregg, S Kilbride 0-1 each.

Subs for Mayo: G Cafferkey for Feeney (52), E Varley for Doherty (60), R McGarrity for Seamus O’Shea (64), P Gardiner for McLoughlin (67).

Subs for Roscommon: D Dineen for Ward (38), D McDermott for O’Grady (55), S Ormsby for Dineen (62), E Kenny for Kilbride (62), G Heneghan for Devaney (66).

Referee: M Collins (Cork).