Mayo confirm the power shift out west
McStay’s men off to flier against naive Tribe
AT ONE point in the first half, as the visitors made light of playing into a gale to toy with hosts Galway, a tongue-incheek line was uttered in the press box: ‘This is Mayo’s year.’
Now it was issued in the full knowledge of the sorrowful mystery of how the Sam Maguire Cup has eluded a footballobsessed Division 1 heavyweight since 1951. And that one result in January is no good guide to summer prospects. No guide at all.
But by the time Gaelic football’s alltime Championship top scorer Cillian O’Connor had landed in off the bench to casually stroke a late penalty to the net, it left you wondering whether maybe…
Mayo were so much slicker than clueless Galway
just maybe.
Because this 2-11 to 0-10 victory was every bit as comprehensive as it suggests. Added to last year’s League final triumph over the same opposition plus the dumping of Galway from the All-Ireland race and at first glance, the balance of power seems to have firmly swung in favour of Kevin McStay’s side.
They were so much slicker and sharper than a clueless Galway side who went 19 minutes without a score in the first half when they had the wind in their favour, and then only managed a single point from play against them — from substitute Cillian Ó Curraoin.
Eoghan McLoughlin spent the afternoon torching up and down the left wing, turboing through for a quality first half goal and linking the play so well in a top class performance.
Fergal Boland was another of the many bright lights in a redemptive performance after the dual player had been prelacked viously cut from the panel. He playedthe clever handpass to assist his team’s first goal and stuck over three classy points.
Mayo had just three wides in either half — a testament to their patience and composure on a day when shooting was tricky.
Galway’s Damien Comer didn’t appear to take his place as the listed number 14 with a hamstring niggle ruled him out.
Without him, the Tribe’s attack a target man and natural focus. His replacement Niall Daly had so little influence that he was whipped off by the 19th minute.
Mayo’s first score showed how testing the game was for the players – they had to work the ball inside the 20-metre line to have a realistic chance of putting it over the bar into the gale and Boland’s arrowed kick rounded off a slick move. By contrast, Galway’s first score came when midfielder Dylan McHugh casually hoisted the ball up in the air from distance and the breeze did the rest.
However, the hosts went from the ninth to the 31st minute without a score, pointing up the general difficulties they were experiencing.
The warning signs were there early too in defensive terms in the way Mayo carved out three goalscoring opportunities in the opening 12 minutes.
For the first, Ryan O’Donoghue sprinted in behind the cover and played in Aidan O’Shea who stepped inside but went to ground under a challenge and the chance evaporated when a goal looked inevitable.
O’Shea was involved again for the second – his goalbound attempt had real venom in it but was blocked at full stretch by John Daly at the expense of a 45.
For Mayo, the third time was a charm. Eoghan McLoughlin had Cein Darcy on the back foot from the start and when Fergal Boland popped a clever handpass into his path, the wing-back sprinted on to leave his marker and thump a low shot to the far corner.
A sign of the breeze? One of Connor Gleeson’s first-half kick
outs sailed over everyone and went straight to his opposite number Colm Reape who had taken up position just outside his own 45.
A black card for Ryan O’Donoghue in the 21th minute — in between two Jordan Flynn points — didn’t discommode Mayo who led 1-6 to 0-5 at the interval and kept Galway at arm’s length until the end, the placekicking of Shane Walsh and a display full of heart and intensity from full-back Seán Fitzgerald, two of the few encouraging aspects for the home side.
The black card period of 10 minutes summed up how Galway just weren’t at it.
They hadn’t the game intelligence to press and squeeze up and attempt to force a turnover and instead allowed Mayo an interminable passage of possession.
The visitors had the smarts to bomb over points from distance in the second half from Boland and Patrick Durcan and substitute Paul Towey certainly put his hand up for inclusion against Dublin with two quality scores.
Just the kind of season start then to keep Mayo supporters believing.
MAYO: C Reape; J Coyne, D McBrien, R Brickenden; P Durcan, S Callinan, E McLoughlin; B Tuohy (D McHugh 63), C Reid (D Duffy 46); F Boland (S Coen 70), J Carney, J Flynn; A O’Shea (C O’Connor 60), T Conroy (P Towey 56), R O’Donoghue. Scorers: E McLoughlin, C O’Connor (pen) 1-0 each, F Boland 0-3, J Flynn, P Towey, R O’Donoghue 0-2 (2fs) each, B Tuohy, P Durcan, J Carney 0-1 each Yellow card: C Reid 43, E McLaughlin 45 Black card: R O’Donoghue 19 Wides: 3 (3) GALWAY: C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Fitzgerald, E Kelly; S Mulkerrin, J Daly, K Molloy (C O Curraoin 50); J Maher, D McHugh; C Darcy (R Finnerty 52), S Walsh, J Heaney (P Conroy h-t); L Ó Conghaile (D O Flaherty 64), N Daly (M Tierney 19), C Sweeney. Scorers: S Walsh 0-5 (3fs, 1 45), L O Conghaile 0-2, C Sweeney, D McHugh, C Ó Curraoin 0-1 each Yellow card: S Mulkerrin 23, K Molloy 36, R Finnerty 63, J Daly 68 Wides: 5 (2) Referee: S Hurson (Tyrone).