MAYO HAVE THE EDGE
Chaos in Castlebar, but Horan gets tasty victory
CAUGHT literally in the eye of a storm, rhyme and reason were blown out of sight in Castlebar last night.
Driving wind and rain reduced a spectacle, the cost of which dominated the GAA’s news agenda all week, to a sodden farce.
In its aftermath, there may be trouble ahead for Roscommon’s Donie Smith after he clashed with Keith Higgins in the 26th minute and the possibility of an investigation looms large.
Otherwise, this amounted to a festival of chaos.
It reached slapstick proportions just before half-time when Mayo goalkeeper Robbie Hennelly, in attempting to solo the ball, saw it swept away by the wind which – in keeping with the Laurel and Hardly feel to the evening, was slashed wide by Roscommon’s Cathal Cregg.
On an evening which the GAA hoped would bolster its case for a 33 per cent admissions hike being good value, here 10, 941 shivering souls watched a contest you could not give away for free.
At the end of it, though, the result will have provided the home faithful with some warmth on a night that marked James Horan’s competitive return as Mayo’s leader.
For many it felt like he’d never been away and there was good reason to think that way. More than half the team that played in that epic All-Ireland semi-final replay defeat to Kerry in 2014, which drew the line under his first stint in charge, were in from the start.
Given the transitional nature of the modern game, to pick up where you left off half a decade later with more than half your team is rare.
And it will only get stronger from here once the likes of Cillian O’Connor, Seamie O’Shea, and Kevin McLoughlin return to the fray.
Still, he had enough in his ranks to take care of business against Connacht rivals who have been living in Mayo’s shadow for the bones of a generation. It is now 18 years and 12 games since Roscommon last bettered their neighbours in a competitive fixture and the chances of that sequence ending soon are not great.
The fact that this ended a onepoint game might suggest the contrary, but the reality was different.
Shane Killoran’s goal, in keeping with evening, hit the back of the net via a deflection in the fourth minute of injury-time and took the bare look off the scoreline. However for most of the second half, the Rossies were off the pace.
They got to play with the elements at their back in the first halfbut couldn’t take full advantage.
When Donie Smith’s 55-metre kick was carried over the bar in the 18th minute, they led by 0-5 to 0-1, yet that score was unchanged when the teams retired at the interval.
Mayo’s quality and experience shone through in the second half, mainly through the urgings of Higgins and Jason Doherty.
It took time, mind, and they had only Diarmuid O’Connor’s point within two minutes of the restart to show for their effort after 50 minutes, but Doherty soon found his range to kick two booming frees.
They were made pay for Colin Compton’s missed goal opportunity with a flurry of Mayo points in the final quarter from Donal Vaughan, Paddy Durcan, Brendan Harrison and Doherty, but the best came last.
On a night, when Horan was seeking building blocks for the future, Brian Reape delivered after a run through the middle before finishing with a drive to the roof of the net to put Mayo 1-8 to 0-6 in the clear with five minutes remaining.
Roscommon’s only comfort is that they looked unrecognisable from the team which imploded in the Super 8s and that went deeper than the sartorial – they chose Castlebar last night as the catwalk to showcase their newly designed jerseys – with just four of the team that started in last summer’s Connacht final defeat to Galway starting.
That is a measure of the transitional trauma visited on Roscommon – who finished with 14 men when Ultan Harney was shown a second yellow card in injury-time - in the close season, but there was evidence of some healing as well.
Anthony Cunningham seems determined to invest in the kind of defensive structure that never caught the fancy of his predecessor Kevin McStay.
There is no argument that it is needed – they have conceded four goals in each of their last four visits to Croke Park over the past two seasons – and while it may work at one end it needs to work at both.