Three Mayo U-20s who caught our eye against Sligo

Mayo are through to their first Connacht U-20 final since 2022 after beating Sligo on a score of 5-22 to 2-16 in Markievicz Park. Here are three players who caught our eye during Mayo’s fourth championship win in a row:

Darragh Beirne 

What a game from Beirne. Absent from the Mayo U-20s first few games due to his St Colman’s College commitments, Beirne all but demanded a starting jersey when he scored 2-2 off the bench against Leitrim. 

He got his reward on Wednesday night and took it with both hands. He just never stopped. Whenever he got a few feet of space, he clipped it over the bar. When he didn’t have the ball, he worked like a dog to win it back. He exemplified this in the fifteenth minute when he worked like mad to win a turnover inside the 45, then won the free, which Tom Lydon promptly stuck over the bar. 

Beirne showed a predator’s instinct for his two goals and showed why he has every right to be regarded as one of the hottest attacking prospects in Mayo football. Only a fine second-half save from Sligo sub goalie Ethan Carden denied him his hat-trick. 

As the late great Austin Garvin used to say: “He’s a good one.” 

Niall Hurley 

^{Niall Hurley takes a shot during the Mayo U-20s meeting with Leitrim Pic: The Mayo News}

The most fascinating individual battle last Wednesday in Markievicz Park wasn’t between a Mayo man and a Sligo man. It was between two Claremorris men: Niall Hurley and Darragh Beirne. 

Without ever going full-on ball hog, Hurley and Beirne almost seemed to forget about winning the game and more about trying to trying to outscore each other. 

The two of them were absolutely superb. You could argue they were afforded too much space by the Sligo defence. They certainly were, but let that not take away from their haul of 4-10, a bounty which speaks for itself, regardless of the opposition. 

Having done his time out at centre-forward, Hurley knows exactly the moves to make to get on the end of a kick-pass. He’s lucky to be on a Mayo team that can run at teams and who aren’t afraid to dink the odd kick-pass in front of Hurley, Beirne or Tom Lydon. Among the three of them, one is bound to score, particularly with the form they are in at the moment. 

^{Mayo U-20 vice-captain Hugh O'Loughlin Pic: Mayo GAA}

Another excellent game from Mayo’s vice-captain, who has rightly earned his reputation as Mayo’s fielding specialist. 

Though he lined out at wing-back for the fourth game in a row, the lofty Kilmaine man spent quite a deal of time patrolling the lár na pairce. 

Almost as if they wanted to admire his fetching ability, Sligo played right into O’Loughlin’s hands - literally - by repeatedly kicking the ball in his direction. Most of the time, they had no answer to the man with glue-like gloves. But they kept kicking it towards him, and O’Loughlin kept catching. Mayo won’t complain.