Tyrone tear Mayo minor dreams apart

Minors restore pride in Mayo football


FOOTBALL ALL-IRELAND MINOR CHAMPIONSHIP
SEMI-FINAL

Tyrone 3-10
Mayo 0-16


Mike Finnerty
Croke Park

There are days when Mayo teams leave Croke Park after losing a big championship game and it really is difficult to find reasons to be optimistic about the future. This wasn’t one of them.
No, this was a Mayo performance that did much to restore pride and faith in the county’s football fortunes. They may have lost this All-Ireland semi-final against a talented Tyrone outfit but they reminded all and sundry that Mayo remain at the cutting edge of this competitive age-group.
"We're absolutely devastated," said their deflated manager Tony Duffy afterwards. "We had patches in the game where we were very good, but then we'd patches where we were taking in water and shipped three goals, and when we were playing well we probably weren't scoring enough.
"We didn't roll over like many other Mayo teams have, we fought as hard as we could and it just wasn't quite enough," he added honestly.
The story of this game is not easily told because it ebbed and flowed from beginning to end. Mayo led by seven points with twenty minutes remaining but surrendered that advantage in the final quarter as the Ulster champions found an extra gear.
Despite looking second-best for long spells of a pulsating match, the title favourites rattled in 2-4 without reply in a devastating ten-minute spell during the second half to deny Mayo an historic third All-Ireland final appearance in succession.
The trend of the final quarter is illustrated by the fact that Tony Duffy’s team were outscored in the last twenty minutes by 2-6 to 0-2; their each and every unforced error, turn-over and wrong decision punished ruthlessly by Tyrone’s strong-running attackers.
Their quality in this division was epitomised by the likes of man of the match Ronan O’Neill (who ended with 1-4 to his credit), Rory Donnelly (1-2) and impact substitute, Dara Donnelly (1-1) who made a huge impression. It’s unlikely we have heard the last of this trio.
However, it’s worth remembering that Mayo lost very little in defeat. They played a style of football that came easy to them and their approach was built on hard work, a willingness to help each other out, and raw courage. Good, old-fashioned principles that stood them in good stead.
Mayo also played with plenty of panache and style. This was especially evident just before and after half-time as they engineered a four points lead at the halfway stage (0-10 to 1-3) and were seven points clear (0-14 to 1-4) by the 41st minute.
Some of their scores had to be seen to be believed, both in terms of their collective creation and individual excellence. Despite the outcome, there was plenty to admire about their approach.
Players like Danny Kirby, Michael Forde, Fergal Durkan, Jack McDonnell, Darren Coen and, of course, Cillian O’Connor were the pick of Mayo’s bunch. They set the tone from the start and showed enough ability and temperament to suggest they have a decent chance of playing in the big house again.
McDonnell’s pace ripped Tyrone open at times while Coen’s awareness, touch, and accuracy was a joy to watch. O’Connor was, well, O’Connor. The full-forward line contributed a dozen points between them; most of the scores were of the scrapbook variety.
The Connacht champions needed a good start and got a great one. They led by three points after five minutes but were reeled back in quickly when the classy Ronan O’Neill smacked in a goal on eight minutes.
Tyrone then threatened to cut loose as ‘Ginger’ John McCullagh, O’Neill and the influential Rory Donnelly tossed over points at their leisure. It was 1-3 to 0-3 after 18 minutes.
Incredibly, the northern lads failed to score for the remainder of the half as Mayo went about their business brilliantly all over the field. It was a joy to watch as they hit seven points in twelve minutes; Darren Coen firing over a couple of memorable ones from long-range while Cian Costello, Michael Forde, Ryan Quirke, Cillian O’Connor and Jack McDonnell also got a piece of the action. When they finally paused for breath at half-time it was 0-10 to 1-3 and Tyrone knew they were in a game.
Mayo picked up where they’d left off and a brace of points from the ultra-reliable O’Connor were supplemented by his partners-in-crime, Coen and McDonnell. Tyrone were now seven points down and fading fast.
Unfortunately, Raymond Munroe’s team were never going to fold up their tent at that stage. They got their second wind at the end of the third quarter and timed their run to perfection in hindsight.
A well-taken goal on 42 minutes from Rory Donnelly turned the tide and another, six minutes later, from the imposing Dara Donnelly levelled the match for the second, and final, time.
Tyrone had the momentum at that stage as Mayo struggled to get their hands on the ball around the middle. The winners tacked on five points in the last ten minutes to kick on as scores from Cillian O’Connor (free) and James Shaughnessy kept the game alive in theory.
To their credit, Mayo threw everything into attack in the dying minutes to try and salvage a draw but Darren Durkan saw his shot smothered before Danny Kirby’s pile-driver was blocked on the line by Tyrone’s Conor Clarke.
It wasn’t to be for Mayo, but they can be proud of their efforts and this was certainly a step in the right direction.

TYRONE
M McReynolds; S McGarrity, C Clarke, H P McGeary; N Sludden, M Donaghy, E Deeney; H Óg Conlon, C Crugan; R Donnelly (1-2), T Canavan, R Devlin; S Tierney (0-1), J McCullagh (0-2), R O’Neill (1-4, 2fs).
Subs used: P McNulty for M Donaghy (ht); D Donnelly (1-1) for Canavan (38 mins); L Girvan for H Og Conlon (43 mins); C McCullagh for McGeary (62 mins).

MAYO : P Mannion; B Harrison, N Freeman, C Twomey; R Quirke (0-1) , C Walsh, C Horan; D Kirby, M Forde (0-1); J McDonnell (0-3) , F Durkan, S Kelly; C Costello (0-1), D Coen (0-3), C O’Connor (0-6, 4fs).
Subs used: M Regan for Twomey (47 mins); A Leonard for Kelly; D Durkan for McDonnell (57 mins); J Shaughnessy (0-1) for Costello (50 mins).

Referee: R Hickey (Clare)