Mayo outgun Galway in wild West derby
Not since 1906 have Mayo strung five consecutive Connacht championship victories over their neighbours and this latest win moves Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly’s charges within 70 minutes of a provincial five-in-a-row, a feat last achieved out west by Galway (1956-60) and a feat last achieved by Mayo back in 1906-10.
Yesterday’s four-point result was the closest Galway have come within their opponents since the 2009 Connacht final defeat (2-12 to 1-14), and was certainly a good distance removed from the heavy beatings suffered in 2013 (4-16 to 0-11) and last July (3-14 to 0-16).
Still, they have yet to fully close the gap and their run without a JJ Nestor triumph will now extend to a seventh summer, the longest barren spell since the mini-famine of 1987-95.
Progress, as was evident here in Salthill, is being made during Kevin Walsh’s first year in charge, but as the two-time All-Ireland winning-midfielder rightly pointed out: “At the end of the day, it is about results and winning”.
For Mayo’s part, the cobwebs were all too evident in their championship opener, the visitors relying heavily on the dead-ball accuracy of Cillian O’Connor, the individual brilliance of Aidan O’Shea and, of course, that most unfortunate own-goal by Finian Hanley early in the second half.
Gary Sice’s superb strike into the top right corner of David Clarke’s goal on 35 minutes, turning inside the challenge of Chris Barrett and capitalising on a slip by Tom Parsons, moved Galway in front for the first time and although Cillian O’Connor’s fifth free levelled matters before the call for half-time, the Galway support in the crowd of 20,254 sensed a turning of the tide.
Instead, the tidal wave that arrived upon the change of ends was reminiscent of the Salthill massacre two summers ago, Mayo registering 1-3 on the bounce to carve out a six-point advantage.
Aidan O’Shea, as he did all afternoon, set the tone by fielding the restart and feeding possession into Diarmuid O’Connor. The right-half-forward was upended by Seán Denvir, brother Cillian knocking over his sixth free.
On 37 minutes arrived the game-changer. Denvir was the successful Galway shirt of six trying to halt the surging run of O’Shea, possession spilled in front of keeper Manus Breathnach and his wild punt ricocheted off Hanley into the Galway net.
Such was the mass of players in the square that the rational option would have been to gather possession cleanly and drive out to the side. A cool head, though, was momentarily lost inside the Pearse Stadium whitewash.
O’Connor and O’Shea added further points and by the 39th minute the scoreboard read Mayo 1-11, Galway 1-5.
Galway went scoreless for the opening 11 minutes of the second period and when Paul Conroy (free) eventually added to their tally, Jason Doherty was on target in the ensuing play to cancel out the effort.
To their credit, the Tribesmen didn’t throw in the towel as had been the case in the past two meetings and could have notched a second major but for a superb Diarmuid O’Connor block to deny Gary Sice.
On 53 minutes, they had their second green flag. Cathal Sweeney cut through the cover, offloaded to sub Peadar Óg Ó Griofa who floated possession across the square to the unmarked Danny Cummins.
Pat Holmes, in his post-match reflection, touched briefly on the areas where Mayo require improvement and the ease at which they were opened up on occasion suggests it is the full-back line, Keith Higgins aside, that demands most work. David Clarke was called into action to twice deny the lively Danny Cummins.
Trailing 2-7 to 1-13, a second Galway coming never materialised. Sub Mark Ronaldson, Séamus O’Shea and O’Connor’s eighth free closed out the result. Indeed, the final stages were marred by the red cards shown to Finian Hanley (yellow, then black) and Lee Keegan (two yellows).
Tempers had threatened to boil over all afternoon long, with Mayo increasingly frustrated by the indiscipline of the Galway defence. In total, Pádraig Hughes handed out 10 yellow cards – six to Galway, four to Mayo – two black and two red. The contest was but 52 seconds old when Michael Lundy and Keegan were booked for an off-the-ball incident and to add to the competitive nature of this semi-final fixture, was the real sense of bite evident in the exchanges.
Cillian O’Connor and Andy Moran operated a two-man full-forward line early on, the latter kicking a delightful opening score from a near-impossible angle. The challenge for the Galway full-back line grew taller when Aidan O’Shea moved inside, drawing four first-half frees – all converted by O’Connor.
The midfield pairing of Tom Parsons and Seamus O’Shea were lording the home kick-outs, forcing Breathnach to go short as the half wore on to ensure possession was retained.
Three points on the hop from Conroy (free), Cummins and Damien Comer between the 19th and 22nd minute levelled proceedings at 0-5 apiece and although Sice’s goal handed momentum to the underdogs, Mayo weren’t long in reasserting their dominance at the change of ends.
C O’Connor (0-9, 0-8 frees); F Hanley (1-0, OG), A Moran (0-2); J Doherty, A O’Shea, S O’Shea, M Ronaldson (0-1 each).
G Sice (1-3, 0-2 frees); D Cummins (1-1); P Conroy (0-3 frees); D Comer (0-1).
D Clarke; T Cunniffe, K Keane, K Higgins; L Keegan, C Barrett, C Boyle; T Parsons, S O’Shea; D O’Connor, A O’Shea, J Doherty; A Moran, K McLoughlin, C O’Connor.
A Dillon for Moran (33 mins, inj), M Ronaldson for Dillon (41, inj), D Vaughan for Boyle (52), G Cafferkey for Keane (57), B Moran for Parsons (66), A Freeman for C O’Connor (69).
M Breathnach; J Duane, F Hanley, C Sweeney; L Silke, G O'Donnell, S Denvir; F Ó Curraoin, T Flynn; G Sice, P Conroy, M Lundy; P Sweeney, D Cummins, D Comer.
P Óg O Griofa for Conroy (50 mins, bc), E Hoare for Flynn (62), G Bradshaw for Silke (62), A Varley for Sweeney (70).
P Hughes (Armagh).
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