Impressive Mayo show no mercy
Then again, such second-guessing of their worth is nothing new. That odyssey to bridge the gap with 1951 has always left the majority somewhat suspicious of Mayo’s abilities, especially in high summer, and there has been no change in that regard in the course of this most recent quest.
Galway were game but green, Sligo were naïve to a painful degree and then there was Donegal. Though considered to be one of the Big Four, Rory Gallagher’s men clocked in at the weekend with even more questions hanging over them than Mayo.
An aging team, some said, while niggling injuries had shadowed key players all campaign, too. They did look tired two days ago, just a week on from their qualifier defeat of Galway at the same venue, and fortune refused to smile on them here.
The loss of Neil McGee shortly after the interval robbed them of the best chaperone for Aidan O’Shea and the concession of Lee Keegan’s beautiful freak of a second goal just before it left them with a mountain that they never looked like scaling.
It wasn’t quite the evisceration suffered at Mayo’s hands at the same stage two years ago, but it was in other ways just as notable a performance by the Connacht champions who cut their cloth to suit the game’s measure, after freewheeling through their province.
It is that ability to adapt that impressed most.
Observers worried for Mayo when they scanned the squad that would see them through the current calendar year. Though they were under new management, there was precious little new blood in the ranks and you wondered what they could do differently to go that agonising extra mile.
The return to full-forward of Aidan O’Shea has been the most obvious tweak and it has served them well. McGee fared well on him for 38 minutes despite suffering an early injury, but the Breaffy man was not confined to his pocket at any stage.
O’Shea was directly involved in at least three of Mayo’s points before he broke the contest open on the stroke of half-time by collecting a long pass from his brother Seamus, shrugging off both his marker and Mark McHugh and finding Paul Durcan’s net.
Gallagher was correct when he observed afterwards that no-one else in Mayo’s personnel file would have scored that goal and its worth was magnified thanks to its timing and the fact that it handed Mayo a four-point half-time lead that reflected their efforts up until then.
“It was a very good time to get a goal,” said joint manager Noel Connelly. “We had a two or three-point lead for most of the first half, but it came back to one (before the goal). It’s an awful time to concede a goal, but it’s a great time to get one.
“I suppose the team talk was a bit easier because of that goal. I thought we were doing well at that stage. I think, overall, the first-half performance, four points was a fair difference between the two teams at that point.”
The second goal said more about their willingness to switch hats when required. Lee Keegan’s lob of Durcan may or may not have been deliberate, but the frequent sight of the Westport wing-back, who scored 1-2 on the day, in those attacking surrounds was no coincidental occurrence.
Mayo’s defence had been a cause of concern in Connacht, but Connelly and Pat Holmes detailed the other wing-back Colm Boyle to sit tight in defence and drafted in some extra help in that department by adding Barry Moran to the defensive roster as well.
“We look at it as horses for courses,” said Connelly. “Donegal always play long direct ball, as do Kerry. There’s teams that do play that style of football. Against Sligo they wouldn’t have been doing that. That was the reason for it. Just to maybe get back there and cover off the space for Michael Murphy. I thought we did that very well. Barry is probably one of the best and smartest footballers you’ll find. He did it very, very well and I thought his positional sense would be very good.”
Murphy still signed for eight points by the day’s end, three of them from play, but Ger Cafferkey nonetheless fared well on the Donegal talisman, who was the only Donegal player to manage more than a single point over the course of almost 80 minutes. It was an impressive lockdown, so much so that Mayo never looked in danger of being overturned, even midway through the second half when they went almost 17 minutes without a score and ball, after ball dropped annoyingly into the arms of Durcan.
The jury remains out, but Mayo are building their case impressively.
M Murphy (0-8, 4 frees, 1 ‘45’); C Toye, A Thompson, L McLoone (all 0-1).
L Keegan (1-2); A O’Shea (1-0); J Doherty (0-3); C O’Connor (0-3, 2 frees); K McLoughlin (0-2); A Freeman, K Higgins and A Moran (all 0-1).
P Durcan; P McGrath, N McGee, E McGee; C Toye, K Lacey, F McGlynn; N Gallagher, M Murphy; H McFadden, O Mac Niallais, M McHugh; R McHugh, C McFadden, P McBrearty.
M McElhinney for Toye (HT); A Thompson for N McGee (inj, 38); L McLoone for Mac Niallais (39).
D Clarke; T Cunniffe, K Higgins, G Cafferkey; L Keegan, D Vaughan, C Boyle; S O’Shea, T Parsons; D O’Connor, J Doherty, B Moran; C O’Connor, A O’Shea, K McLoughlin.
C Barrett for Cunniffe (inj, 34); R Hennelly for Clarke (inj, HT); P Durcan for Vaughan (BC, 55); A Moran for B Moran (blood sub, 61); A Freeman for S O’Shea (65); K Keane for Cafferkey (70).
D Gough (Meath).
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