CORK GIVE MAYO FRIGHT OF THEIR LIVES AS TRIBE STUN DONEGAL
‘Killer’ Cillian the saviour as Rochford’s men made fight all the way by Cork
CILLIAN O’CONNOR was Mayo’s saviour at the Gaelic Grounds last night, as his supreme scoring power prevented last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists from suffering a shock Championship exit.
After a dismal Munster final performance, Cork had been written off across the board heading into this clash, but showed extraordinary resolve to push the favourites all the way in this extra-time epic. Manager, Peadar Healy, can be proud of his final match in charge.
Mayo will head for the quarter-finals in Croke Park stronger for this experience having shown incredible steel to push on to this win after losing a three-point injury time advantage as Luke Connolly’s goal threw Cork a lifeline.
Cork then looked like the team that wanted the victory as skipper Paul Kerrigan pushed them two points clear, only for Cillian and Diarmuid O’Connor and Keith Higgins to fire the winning scores for Mayo in extra time.
This victory was celebrated with glee by the thousands of green-and-red-clad supporters among the 13,505 in attendance. At stages it seemed as if they lifted their side from the doldrums and urged them on to new heights. A haul of 27 points with just five wides over 90 minutes, plus added time is some return, and maybe Mayo can rightly feel they are All-Ireland contenders.
After Ciaran Brannigan’s full-time whistle sounded supporters from both sides piled on to the pitch to congratulate the players. Cork and Mayo fans shook hands with the brave Cork team who found their best form of the year after their sheepish Munster championship, and credit must go to Peadar Healy for the attacking football he urged his side to play.
But this day belonged to Mayo. They looked dead and gone when Michael Hurley landed his second point to give his side a 2-19 to 0-23 lead, but Cillian O’Connor added a free, a point from play and a 45 to clinch the win. It was heroic stuff.
But it was Cork that roared into the action with a fiery opening 20 minutes. There was a new sharpness to their play that wasn’t evident in the Munster championship, and with Donncha O’Connor delivering his best form in years Cork powered into an early lead. Two early frees got the Ballydesmond man off the mark and saw his side into a two-point lead, but it was the quality of the pass from Mark Collins that saw him turn Ger Cafferkey and kick Cork into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after 10 minutes.
To their credit, Mayo responded to the Cork physicality and intensity in the tackle – Aidan O’Shea and Colm Boyle in particular set the tone in that department – and when Lee Keegan rounded off a flowing move and pointed off the outside of his boot, Mayo relaxed. Andy Moran fisted a point soon after, although if he had noticed his marker James Loughrey lay injured it could have garnered more than one. Loughrey limped off soon after, while the loss of a second corner-back Jamie O’Sullivan to a black card just before half-time, was another big loss. Interestingly, when attacking from deep inside their own half, Cork employed two players wide on each sideline in an attempt to break though Mayo’s initial defensive line, and it produced a couple of gaps that Barry O’Driscoll made the most of with a lead score after 24 minutes.
But Mayo finished the half brightly with six of the last eight points of the half. Aidan O’Shea started that run following a flowing move, and after a couple of good scores in that block, Cillian O’Connor fittingly finished the half with a stunning point after his dummy solo earned him a yard.
Mayo started the second-half with the same intensity that they finished the first and had stretched their lead by four points by the 46th minute – O’Connor again did most of the damage – but Cork came back again with a remarkable resurrection. A couple of great points from John O’Rourke came in the middle of four without reply for Cork – they had scored for the 20 minutes before that – and after Mayo steadied themselves to lead by six points, Sean Powter struck a great goal and O’Rourke pointed to put just a point between the teams, 0-17 to 1-13.
Lee Keegan also earned a black card for a trip during Cork’s period of ascendancy, but it looked as if Stephen Cronin ran across his line and their legs became entangled. But again Mayo pulled clear and looked certain winners with a couple of Cillian O’Connor points, but Connolly’s low finish and his nerveless long range free forced extratime. MAYO: D Clarke; G Cafferkey (C Crowe 80), B Harrison, C Barrett (P Durcan 44); L Keegan (D Drake 58, BC), K Higgins, C Boyle (D Vaughan 53); S O’Shea (S Coen 49), T Parsons; K McLoughlin (E Regan 81), A O’Shea, Diarmuid O’Connor (A Dillon 87); J Doherty, C O’Connor, A Moran (C Loftus 63). SCORERS: C O’Connor 0-11 (4f, 1 ’45), A Moran 0-4, A O’Shea 0-3, P Durcan, C Loftus 0-2, L Keegan, K Higgins, T Parsons, Diarmuid O’Connor, J Doherty (0-1) CORK: R Price; J Loughrey (K Crowley 19, C Dorman 75), M Shields (C O’Neill 46), J O’Sullivan (S Cronin 35, BC); T Clancy, E Cadogan, C O’Driscoll (S White 71); A Walsh (R Deane 37), I Maguire (A O’Connor 71); M Collins, S Powter (C O’Driscoll 80), J O’Rourke (K O’Driscoll 71); B O’Driscoll (L Connolly 53), P Kerrigan, Donncha O’Connor (M Hurley 62). SCORERS: Donncha O’Connor 0-6 (4f), L Connolly 1-1 (0-1f) J O’Rourke, C O’Neill (1f) P Kerrigan 0-3, S Powter 1-0, M Hurley 0-2, T Clancy, B O’Driscoll 0-1. REFEREE: Ciaran Branagan (Down).