Mayo's championship hopes blown apart by rampant Cavan men in Castlebar

ALL-IRELAND SFC GROUP 1, ROUND 1

Mayo 1-14

Cavan 1-17

In Castlebar

MAYO'S championship hopes were blown asunder in MacHale Park this afternoon when Cavan blew the home team aside. The three-point gap at the end gives a completely incorrect impression as Cavan were clearly and the better team and their attacking was light-years ahead of what the home side produced.

Raymond Galligan's men were sharper, smarter and more direct. They made the home side look pedestrian at times and the contrast between Cavan's swift attacking play and Mayo's lateral approach was stark. The glaring fact that only one of Mayo's starting forwards scored from play tells its own tale.

The difference would have been much greater at the end, but for a late Mayo salvo which yielded a goal and two points without reply. In truth, those scores made little difference as the traveling Breffni hordes danced on the pitch after the final whistle.

Cavan set out their stall from the outset and tore into the home side. They ran at their direct opponents time after time and reaped the rewards.

A first half that was poor in the extreme ended with Mayo somehow enjoying a three-point lead. To say that the home side played poorly in the opening half was an understatement and if Cavan had been more efficient in front of goal the scoreboard would have been much different.

Cavan owned the ball in the opening ten minutes but were wayward in their shooting and had five shots at goal, two of them successful, while Mayo stalled the ball around the middle whenever they had it in their possession.

It took Mayo until the 18^th minute to record their first score, a free from Ryan O'Donoghue, and the Belmullet man sent a goal effort wide a minute later, but Cavan were the better team for long periods.

The guests had great joy whenever they ran at Mayo and the men in blue regularly danced forward without a hand being laid on them. Cormac O'Reilly found space in the Cavan attack after 21 minutes when a flowing move cut Mayo assunder but his goal shot was timid.

At the other end, O'Donoghue landed a two-point free to level matters in the 22^nd minute after Cavan were caught with only two men in attack. The home boys had the opportunity to hit the front soon after when a flowing move saw the ball pass through Jack Carney, O'Donoghue, Darren McHale and Enda Hession before Davitt Neary's goal effort was smothered.

Mayo were slightly more impressive as the half progressed but their sense of urgency going forward left a lot be desired and the scores were still tied going into injury time. The home side were dealt a blow at that stage when Neary was sin-binned for an off-the-ball incident, but it failed to have a negative impact.

The opposite was the case and in the closing minutes of the half the men in green and red had their best spell, with Stephen Coen kicking two points and Matthew Ruane adding another to leave three between them at the break.

Cavan had been dealt serious blows with both Barry Donnelly and Sean McEvoy leaving the pitch injured but they failed to let that impact their approach.

The Mayo crowd expected the home side to push on after the resumption, but Cavan soon put paid to that assumption. Gerard Smith blasted home a goal after a minute and when Cormac O'Reilly landed a point two minutes later they were in front and would never be headed for the rest of the day.

Mayo dragged themselves back to level the scores by the 41^st minute, but the momentum was with Galligan's men who raced forward every chance they got.

At the back, Cavan snapped at every Mayo man who ventured forward, but it was made easier for them by the lack of ingenuity in the home attack. Instead it was left to midfielders Stephen Coen and Matthew Ruane to kick points and keep Kevin McStay's men in it.

However, Cavan with corner-back Niall Carolan doing a great job on Ryan O'Donoghue; Ciaran Brady excellent at centre-half-back and both Oisin Kiernan and Cormac O'Reilly kicking points for fun, they were soon stretching away.

Mayo brought on Paddy Durcan for the closing stages in the hope that the team captain could inspire things after more than a year out with injury, but Cavan were not for turning. They were eight points clear at the end of 70 minutes and Mayo put a gloss on the scoreboard with a goal from Aidan O'Shea and points from O'Donoghue and Fergal Boland before the curtain fell.

A full match report, after-match analysis and player ratings will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News