Seán Rice
THEY have left it late, but the old vitality was back and a lot of lost ground reclaimed. Mayo’s four-points win did not quite reflect their dominance. Nor, it must be said, did Roscommon replicate the form they have shown in victories over the likes of Kerry, Cork, and Donegal.
Maybe for the Rossies victory was less important, but except for a few minutes near the end they were never in the hunt, the life squeezed out of them by rejuvenated Mayo.
After some indifferent performances Mayo needed this lifeline to Division 1 sanctuary. They are not there yet, and unless they lose the run of themselves, in believing Down will be a soft touch next Sunday, they ought to fulfil Stephen Rochford’s league priority.
Their victory was not without some concern. The malady of poor marksmanship still haunts them. Ten wides in the first half is a blemish on the authority they had otherwise stamped on the game. A total of six points is a trifling return for being camped in the Roscommon half of the field,
Mayo started with two changes from the announced team. Donal Vaughan stood in for Shane Nally at wing back, while Conor Loftus made way for Alan Freeman to embark on his first outing of the season.
Both fitted in nicely, Freeman in particular a welcome boost to a forward line frayed somewhat by the absence of the energetic Kevin McLoughlin. The Aghamore man’s return did bring a new dimension to Mayo’s attacking system in the first half in particular.
Ball flowed endlessly to the forwards in that first half. The Rossies were on the ropes as Mayo’s midfield and half-back lines pounded their defence. Playing a dominant role in that onslaught was the midfield pairing of Seamus O’Shea and Tom Parsons.
O’Shea was quite magnificent. In all his ragged strength and rigour, there’s a certain beauty in the heart that pulses inside the Breaffy man – in the way he tears into tackles, opens defences, sometimes overdoing things, but always honestly and wholeheartedly.
His brother Aidan O’Shea at centre half-forward was also powerfully influential throughout the game using his massive frame to good effect and staying the pace for the 70 minutes.
And yet for all of their work and that of Parsons, and Lee Keegan, Colm Boyle and Donal Vaughan in the attacking half-back line, they managed the sum of only six points in the first half, only two of which were from play.
Roscommon, who were without three of their stars, didn’t have their first score until the 24th minute. Nor had they a single wide in the 35 minutes. But for all of their possession, Mayo were then only three points ahead. And when the much more economical hosts cut that to two (0-6 to 0-4) at the break, we began to lament another Mayo disappointment.
What they found so difficult to do in that first half, Mayo accomplished less than two minutes after the resumption against the diagonal wind. Freeman from a free had their seventh point and then, in a move exquisitely executed, Evan Regan faded in from the right, dodging tackles, ball dancing on his toe, before despatching it positively into the net.
The Ballina man had come good, realising his potential, and within minutes Mayo had stretched their lead to eight points before Roscommon had their first point in the 23rd minute of the second half.
In the meantime Paddy Durcan had replaced Vaughan and, in adding his name to the scoring sheet, showed no ill-effects from Castlebar’s club trauma in Croke Park.
Diarmuid O’Connor once again did Trojan work all over the field and a huge cheer from the Mayo sector greeted the introduction of his brother Cillian back unexpectedly from injury, and who capped his return with an important, concluding point from a difficult free.
Back, too, came veteran Alan Dillon for the final ten minutes of the game when Roscommon threatened to undermine all of Mayo’s ascendancy, cutting the lead back to three points in injury time.
Their goal by Diarmuid Murtagh might not have come if Ger Cafferkey, who had another impressive game at full-back, had not left the field with an injury minutes earlier. Either side of him, Brendan Harrison and Chris Barrett were efficient and thorough, and goalie Robbie Hennelly scored two important points from 45s.
Mayo rejuvenated in the Hyde
