Mayo ease past Roscommon to book FBD League final spot against Galway

With that first round league match against Galway coming up, Colm Boyle didn’t exactly try to sell the clash in Tuam next Sunday, indicating that it would be treated as another chance to let players try to stake a claim for increased playing time.

FINAL BOOKED: Mayo ease past Roscommon to book FBD League final spot with Galway next Sunday in Tuam. Picture: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile

FBD League: Mayo 0-22 (0-6-10) Roscommon 1-6 (1-0-6)

They’ll meet later in the year in the National League and barring a huge upset in either London or New York, they’ll meet in the Connacht championship as well – but when it comes to Mayo against Roscommon, it doesn’t matter if there are bigger fish to fry, every herring that you can savour while the other goes hungry is a fantastic meal.

Mayo devoured Roscommon whole in the Hyde today, firing over six second-half two-pointers to set up another local derby against Galway in Tuam Stadium this coming Sunday in the FBD final, but also laying down a significant marker at the same time.

Roscommon have 11 panellists from Strokestown and St. Brigid’s yet to return to the camp after their club campaigns but Mark Dowd wasn’t blaming that for his side’s anaemic display.

“That's not going to be an excuse for us in our first couple of league games, who we don't have. What we have we'll be working with and we'll be trying to get the best out of them.

“Breaking ball was a huge one, they came up with a lot there in either side of half-time. That was a big learning for us there,” he said.

“It was about how quick they moved it in after that. The quicker you move the ball from a kick-out, you're going to get shots off”.

The damage was done in the second half when Mayo used the breeze to fire over six two-pointers, but they were no less impressive in the opening 30 minutes when they controlled possession and engineered sight scores, two Rob Hennelly 45s and six points from close range to take the wind out of the game.

Daire Cregg scored a superb goal but Roscommon’s eight first half wides included five long passes that overshot the full forward line to run dead, and at 1-2 to 0-8 behind at the interval, they looked to be in trouble.

Three minutes into the second half Jack Carney and Ryan O’Donoghue hoisted over doubles and O’Donoghue pounced on a turnover to sweep another shot over the bar, and Mayo didn’t look back.

Adam Barrett split the posts from distance, Tom Lydon came off the bench to kick two from the left wing, while Rob Hennelly also made two crucial saves to deny Eoin Ward and Eoin Colleran.

“It's not easy to play football [in those conditions] as you can see but to be honest with you we were happy with the forecast today that it was going to be wet and windy,” said Mayo selector Colm Boyle.

“You need exposure to that, especially with what's coming in the National League for the first early round. So it was great to see boys in that kind of environment today and the way they were able to work the ball and put pressure on their opponents”.

With that first round league match against Galway coming up, Boyle didn’t exactly try to sell the clash in Tuam next Sunday, indicating that it would be treated as another chance to let players try to stake a claim for increased playing time.

“I'd say we'll have to be smart with it. We'll have to see what boys play during the week with regards to minutes. There’s Sigerson games on Tuesday and Wednesday, then there's other guys that haven't played for us yet for one reason or another that we haven't seen, so they're probably going to need minutes next weekend.

“I don't think anyone will be under the illusion that the big game is the first round of the league in Salthill rather than next weekend but absolutely we'll use next weekend for what it is”.

Scorers for Mayo: R O’Donoghue 0-4 (1tp, 1f), J Carney 0-4 (1tp), T Lydon 0-4 (2tp), E Hession 0-2, R Hennelly 0-2 (2x45s), A Barrett 0-2 (1tp), T Conroy 0-2 (1tp), D Beirne 0-1f, A O’Shea 0-1.

Scorers for Roscommon: D Cregg 1-3 (2f), D Heneghan 0-1, Dylan Ruane 0-1, Cian McKeon 0-1.

MAYO: R Hennelly; E Hession, R Brickenden, L Golden; P Durcan, M Plunkett, C Keaveney; B Tuohy, D McBrien; D Duffy, R O’Donoghue, S Howard; D Beirne, A O’Shea, T Conroy.

Subs: J Carney for Duffy (27), S Coen for Durcan (27), A Barrett for Beirne (half-time), O Jordan for Keaveney (40), N Hurley for O’Shea (43), L Donoghue for Howard (45), T Lydon for Conroy (48), J McMonagle for McBrien (50).

ROSCOMMON: A Brady; P Gavin, E McCormack, M Richardson; O Cregg, C Keogh, S Lambe; C Ryan, D Kenny; D Heneghan, C McKeon, D Ruane; D Murtagh, D Cregg, J Tumulty.

Subs: P Carey for Kenny (26), E Colleran for Tumulty (28), E Ward for O Cregg (36), C Heneghan for Murtagh (43), S Canning for D Heneghan (45), N Higgins for Richardson (47), R Hughes for S Lambe (50), R Heneghan for McKeon (52), R Daly for C Heneghan (60) 

Referee: James Molloy (Galway).