Andy Moran's Mayo overcome Offaly in festive charity game

It may have been bitterly cold in Castlebar but there was a nice gathering of enthusiastic Mayo fans as Andy Moran’s reign got off to a winning start. Mayo hosted Offaly with the game played in aid of the official charity partner of Mayo GAA, The Mayo Cancer Support Association. 

Andy Moran’s men ran out 3-18 to 1-12 winners over the midlands side. 

Mayo got off to a flying start with Tommy Conroy blasting to the net early on. Aidan O’Shea grabbed Mayo’s second green flag of the afternoon with 12 minutes gone. The Faithful County were competitive right throughout as their centre forward Keith O’Neill impressed across the 70 minutes. 

Going in at half time, Mayo trailed 2-5 to Offaly’s 1-9.

At the break, Cian McHale and Ryan O’Donoghue were introduced and both attackers had an instant impact. Midway through the second period, Claremorris attacker Darragh Beirne kicked Mayo’s only two-pointer of the game which came from a placed ball effort. Beirne who is U-20 next season played well as the accurate forward ended the game with a tally of 0-6.

Entering the final quarter, the hosts upped the intensity levels and the gap between themselves and Offaly grew as Cian McHale, James Carr and Paul Towey all pointed. With ten minutes remaining, Ryan O’Donoghue finished from close range to the net as Adam Barrett, Bob Tuohy and Jordan Flynn all kicked singles to round off a fine performance. 

With a mix of youth and experience on show, Andy Moran and his management team can be pleased with the level of performance as they ran out 12 point victors over Offaly who are jointly managed by legendary figure Mickey Harte. After the game, the Mayo players participated in a meet and greet at the back of the stand where opportunities arose for children to get photos taken with members of the Mayo senior team.

The Mayo team that lined out against Offaly was: J Livingstone; E Hession, D Duffy, L Golden; F Kelly, S Morahan, M Plunkett (0-1); J Flynn (0-1), B Tuohy (0-1); S Howard, P Towey (0-2), N Moran; D Beirne (0-6, 1tpf, 1f), A O’Shea (1-1), T Conroy (1-0).

Subs used: C McHale (0-3) for N Moran (ht), R O’Donoghue (1-1, 0-1f) for A O’Shea (ht), J Carr (0-1) for T Conroy (45), A Barrett (0-1) for D Beirne (51), S Coen for M Plunkett (53), C Dawson for F Kelly (61), F Irwin for P Towey (61), D Thornton for S Howard (61).

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