Goal-hungry Mayo blitz Tyrone to keep on track
Aidan O'Shea of Mayo is tackled by Padraig Dempsey of Tyrone. Picture: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
UNBEATEN Mayo continued their march up the Division 1 league table with a convincing win over struggling Tyrone at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar on Saturday evening.
Four goals did the trick for Kevin McStay’s new-look side as they beat the Red Hands on Mayo soil for the first time since October of 1992.
This was a third away defeat in their last four games for the 2021 All-Ireland champions, who had already lost on their travels to both Galway and Roscommon.
First-half goals from Aidan O’Shea and James Carr were followed up by green flags in the second half from Enda Hession and Diarmuid O’Connor as Mayo racked up their second home win in seven days.
A crowd of 12,218 turned out to see a dozen different Mayo players get on the scoresheet with Tommy Conroy also coming off the bench in the last quarter after being out of action for more than 12 months with a cruciate ligament injury.
Despite getting off to a slow start, Mayo led at the interval by 2-5 to 0-5.
Tyrone had dominated the first quarter and deservedly led by 0-4 to 0-1 after 20 minutes with well-crafted scores from Darragh Canavan and Darren McCurry supplemented by frees from McCurry and goalkeeper Niall Morgan.
It took Mayo 18 minutes to open their account through a Ryan O’Donoghue free.
But the Westerners exploded into life in the second quarter, outscoring Tyrone by 2-4 to no score in the space of 13 blistering minutes.
Aidan O’Shea hit the Tyrone net from close-range on 25 minutes — despite the best efforts of Niall Morgan and Frank Burns — to give the homeside the lead for the first time.
Ryan O’Donoghue (free) and Conor Loftus then tagged on points to extend their advantage.
Mayo’s tails were up and they struck for their second goal on 31 minutes when Aidan O’Shea’s delivery found James Carr and he drilled the ball under Niall Morgan for his third goal in four matches.
A point from the excellent Jack Carney left Mayo ahead by 2-5 to 0-4.
The first half scoring was ended by a well-struck ‘45 from Niall Morgan to end a period of 14 minutes without a score for Tyrone.
Any doubts about the outcome were ended when Mayo corner-back Enda Hession scored a sensational goal just five minutes after the restart.
His superb solo effort left the homeside eight points clear, and despite a neat score from Darragh Canavan and frees from Niall Morgan and Darren McCurry (2), the Ulster men were unable to get any closer than five points after 60 minutes.
Mayo upped the ante again in the closing stages with impact sub’ Cillian O’Connor, Colm Reape (free), Fionn McDonagh and the experienced Jason Doherty all keeping the scoreboard ticking.
Man of the match Diarmuid O’Connor also capped an excellent display with a superb goal in the 68th minute that sealed a good evening’s work.
Tyrone looked a pale shadow of themselves all evening, and their only scores in the last 15 minutes came from the hard-working Frank Burns and a free from Darragh Canavan (free). The visitors also ended the game with fourteen players after Conn Kilpatrick was shown a black card before the end.
Mayo are away to league leaders Roscommon in round five next Sunday while Tyrone welcome All-Ireland champions Kerry to Omagh.
C Reape (0-1, 1f); J Coyne, D McBrien, E Hession (1-0); S Coen, C Loftus (0-1), D McHugh; M Ruane (0-1), D O’Connor (1-0); F McDonagh (0-1), J Carney (0-1), J Flynn; A O’Shea (1-0), J Carr (1-0), R O’Donoghue (0-3, 3fs).
Subs used: S Callinan for Hession (44); P Durcan for Coyne (44); J Doherty (0-1) for Loftus (51); C O’Connor (0-1) for O’Shea (60); T Conroy for Carr (66).
N Morgan (0-3, 2fs, ‘45); M McKernan, C Munroe, P Hampsey; C Quinn, P Harte, D Mulgrew; B Kennedy, F Burns (0-2); C Meyler, C Kilpatrick, J Oguz; D McCurry (0-4, 3fs), C McShane, D Canavan (0-3, 1f).
Subs used: N Devlin for Munroe (41); M Donnelly for McShane (50); R Canavan for Mulgrew (50); K McGeary for Harte (61); L Rafferty for McKernan (70).
: N Mooney (Cavan)
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