Three Mayo U-20 players who caught our eye against Roscommon

The Mayo U-20s began their Connacht championship campaign with an impressive win over Roscommon yesterday evening (Wednesday). There were a number of standout performances, but here are three players that caught our eye. 

Hugh O’Loughlin (Kilmaine)

This man had some game. O’Loughlin is a big man, not a giant of a man, but can leap like a salmon and grip an O’Neills ball tighter than a boa constrictor suffocating a rat. 

By our count, O’Loughlin made seven clean catches in this game. Quite simply, the Mayo vice-captain was unmatchable in the air, laying waste to  Roscommon men like an RAF fighter pilot blasting Stukas out of the skies above Southend in World War 2. All the more impressive, considering he wore the number 5. 

Tom Lydon (The Neale)

This kid again. God forbid, should an injury crisis befall Kevin McStay, Lydon is a player you’d seriously consider calling up to the Mayo senior panel. 

At times during the recent Connacht Senior A schools championship, Lydon was too good for schools football. 

Restricted to the odd cameo for last year’s U-20s, the corner forward was centre-stage and the go-to-man on Wednesday. And that’s the way it will be, judging by another performance packed with pace, panache and a ruthless eye for the goalposts. 

A Mayo senior star in the making. 

Eoin McGreal (Garrymore)

It was no leisurely evening for the young man from Garrymore, who was tasked with marking John Curran, Roscommon’s best forward on the night. 

He held Curran to two points, made some morale-boosting turnovers, and showed he had pace to burn with a number of blazing attacking runs beyond the half-way line. 

For Mayo selector Keith Higgins, it must have been like watching a younger version of himself.