Mayo see off Galway to win league title

Final
Mayo 0-14
Galway 0-11

Mike Finnerty
Croke Park

THE sound of Mayo’s unofficial anthem — ‘The Green and Red of Mayo’ by The Sawdoctors’ — rang out at Croke Park on Sunday evening to signal their latest landmark victory in the famous stadium.
A well-deserved win over Galway means that Kevin McStay’s first league season in charge will be remembered for delivering the Division 1 title, and sets his team up perfectly for next Sunday’s Connacht championship quarter-final clash with Roscommon in Castlebar.
Colm Reape — who only made his league debut against Galway two months ago — stole most of the headlines with a string of superb saves and three brilliantly-taken place-kicks. The Knockmore goalkeeper was a deserving winner of the man of the match award.
Ryan O’Donoghue rounded off his impressive league campaign with seven points, including two trademark converted marks and some crucial frees at crucial times.
The likes of Jack Coyne, David McBrien (until his day ended at half-time due to injury) and Sam Callinan all enhanced their reputations in defence, while Aidan O’Shea led the attack with a powerful display that mixed inspiration and perspiration in equal measure.
Mayo made a flying start to a game that quickly developed into an absorbing tactical battle.
In front of an attendance of 45,041, McStay’s charges set the tone early and were 0-6 to 0-1 up by the end of the first quarter.
By half-time the 2019 champions were 0-8 to 0-5 up and continuing to set the pace.
In fact, they were never behind at any stage.
Early scores from Colm Reape (a nerveless free from almost 45m), James Carr and Ryan O’Donoghue (free) settled the early nerves, and a further hat-trick of points from O’Donoghue (a mark), Paddy Durcan and Jordan Flynn saw them pull further ahead.
Galway were struggling to break down Mayo’s well-constructed defensive system and it took a brilliant long-range free from Shane Walsh on 22 minutes to give their supporters something to shout about.
The Kilcacud Crokes attacker was Galway’s most threatening forward in that second quarter and he tagged on a couple of trademark points — including one audacious effort from play — to get last year’s Division 2 finalists back into contention.
Industrious midfielder John Maher then drove through to score and reduce the deficit to the bare minimum before Mayo, who had gone more than 20 minutes without a white flag, finally got back in the groove with frees from Ryan O’Donoghue and Colm Reape deep in additional time.
Those scores were enough to send the outsiders in ahead by three at the halfway mark.
The second half was equally as fascinating as both teams stuck to their game-plans.
Robert Finnerty split the posts twice after the restart to leave just a kick of the ball between the teams and, from there to the finish, there was very little to choose between the teams.
Mayo weren’t as fluid as they had been in the opening quarter but their counter-attacking game was creating chances, and a well-struck ‘45 from Colm Reape, along with another Ryan O’Donoghue point helped to keep the Tribesmen at arm’s length.
Aidan O’Shea then picked out O’Donoghue with a pin-point long delivery which the Belmullet man ‘marked’ before clipping a point into ‘The Hill’ that left Mayo ahead by 0-11 to 0-8.
But Galway never blinked, and points from Shane Walsh and Peter Cooke meant the match was still in the balance heading into the final ten minutes.
But Mayo’s game-changer was impact sub, Tommy Conroy, and his blinding pace and direct running caused havoc in Galway’s backline.
The Neale attacker was fouled twice for frees which O’Donoghue converted in the 63rd and 67th minutes that pushed Mayo out of Galway’s reach.
There was still time though for a typical quick Mayo counter-attack that saw Ballyhaunis defender Jack Coyne pop up to score on the run in the 71st minute.
Galway continued to hunt a goal that could have thrown them a lifeline, but Peter Cooke was denied by a fourth brilliant save from Colm Reape before Tomo Culhane grabbed a late consolation point five minutes into added time.
But Mayo were not to be denied, and Paddy Durcan climbed the steps to join the likes of Johnny Carey (1970), Noel Connelly (2001) and Diarmuid O’Connor (2019) as captains who have lifted the National League trophy.
The newly-crowned champions will now begin planning for next Sunday’s Connacht championship opener against Roscommon at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park.
There is, literally, no time to rest on their laurels.

Mayo
C Reape (0-3, 2fs, ‘45); J Coyne (0-1), D McBrien, S Callinan; S Coen, C Loftus, P Durcan (0-1); M Ruane, D O’Connor; F McDonagh, J Carney, J Flynn (0-1); A O’Shea, J Carr (0-1), R O’Donoghue (0-7, 5fs, 2 marks).
Subs used: E McLaughlin for McBrien (HT); T Conroy for Carr (55); D McHale for McDonagh (65); B Tuohy for Ruane (70); P O’Hora for Coyne (73).

Galway
C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Kelly (0-1), S Fitzgerald; D McHugh, J Daly, C Hernon; P Conroy, J Maher (0-1); M Tierney, J Heaney, P Cooke (0-1); R Finnerty (0-2, 1 mark), S Walsh (0-5, 2fs, ‘45), C Sweeney.
Subs used: D Comer for Heaney (33, inj); J Glynn for Hernon (HT); T Culhane (0-1) for Finnerty (62); D O’Flaherty for Sweeney (65).

Referee: B Cawley (Kildare)