Mayo beaten fair and square by Sligo

Back to the drawing board


Reality bites hard as Mayo bow out tamely

Football Connacht Championship
First Round
Sligo 0-15
Mayo 1-8

Mike Finnerty
Sligo

THIS time there can be no excuses. Mayo were beaten fair and square last Saturday evening at Markievicz Park and knocked out of the Connacht championship by a Sligo team that were simply better in most departments, including organisation, team-work and most of the basics.
All over the field, Sligo players won the individual battles and on the sideline, Kevin Walsh trumped his old mentor John O’Mahony. The apprentice always seemed to be one step ahead of the master and produced his team fit, well and ready for battle. They didn’t let him down.
Mayo, unfortunately, were the exact opposite on the day. Short half a dozen regulars due to injuries picked up during their gruelling series of matches in the last few weeks, they looked flat, tired and utterly devoid of ideas. Six points from play tells its own story.
Team Mayo now have three weeks to regroup and prepare for the All-Ireland Qualifiers, a scenic route that the county have never taken to since its introduction nine years ago. In truth, on the evidence of their last two competitive outings, there is little to suggest that 2010 will be any different.
“It’s very disappointing really,” sighed John O’Mahony. “We got off to a great start but lost our way in the second half. Full credit to Sligo, they deserve to be in the semi-final.
“In the first period, when we were doing well, we were getting direct ball inside.
“It’s very hard to analyse a game like that right away,” he added, “but I would imagine that we weren’t winning ball around the middle of the field, or letting it in quick enough because we did seem to have the run on them inside. But we’ll have a few weeks to analyse it now to see where we go from here.”
Last Saturday belonged to Sligo though and their partisan supporters in the crowd of 13,000 gave their team a rousing reception as they left the field after beating the defending champions.
This was a real team effort by the winners although Eamonn O’Hara, who rolled back the years with a magnificent performance, and David Kelly were the pick of the bunch.
O’Hara, who rolled back the years with a magnificent performance, was refusing to get carried away afterwards.
“Today was our day and it was a good win,” admitted the 34 years-old. “But in three weeks time we play Galway and these are all just stepping stones back to a Connacht final.”
These sentiment were echoed by man of the match, David Kelly, who shot three points as Mayo faded out of contention as the game wore on.
“We gave a good performance in the second half,” he said. “Today is a great day but it’s only one win. We want to go on from this.”
Despite being comprehensively beaten in the end, Mayo looked like justifying their favourite’s tag in the early stages as debutant full-forward, Alan Freeman, kicked a superb point from play and converted a penalty to propel the visitors into a four-point lead.
It was at this stage that Kevin Walsh moved to curb Freeman’s threat, switching the experienced Eamonn O’Hara back to ‘double-up’ on the lively attacker.
The tactic worked a treat and as the half wore on Sligo came more into contention; points from Colm McGee (2) and Johnny Davey underlining their renaissance.
At the other end, Mayo endured a barren spell of seventeen minutes without a score before Conor Mortimer hit the target with customary audacity.
In hindsight, far too many of Mayo’s big players were struggling for form at that stage and, despite playing against the breeze, Sligo would have been quite pleased to be just two points down at the change of ends (0-5 to 1-4).
They made their decisive move after the restart as defenders Charlie Harrison and Ross Donavan shut up shop at the back, Tony Taylor and Stephen Gilmartin wrestled control of midfield, and their forwards cut loose.
The pacey David Kelly kicked Sligo on to level terms for the first time in the match on 47 minutes and they went in front a minute later when Tony Taylor hammered over a huge score from long-range.
The underdogs never looked back.
Mayo’s collapse around the midfield diamond was illustrated by the fact that both midfielders, (Tom Parsons and Ronan McGarrity, and centre-forward Seamus O’Shea were all replaced. Enda Varley and Trevor Mortimer were also replaced after ineffective outings and Mayo’s attempts to reel Sligo back in were unconvincing.
Alan Freeman kept them in contention with a clever score midway through the second half but he was ploughing a lone furrow up front.
In the last ten minutes, a couple of inspirational points from former Mayo player, Alan Costello, nudged Sligo further ahead before David Kelly clipped a brace of scores from play to settle the issue.
In between, Andy Moran’s industry was rewarded with two points (one from a free) but Mayo never looked like scoring the goal they needed to save the day.
There is no doubt that the Mayo management team and their players have some tough decisions to make and some straight talking to do before they reappear on June 26.
After a promising league campaign, something has gone fundamentally wrong in the last five weeks and time is running out for some of the main protagonists. One Connacht title in four years is a poor return in any man’s language.
“There are a few more twists and turns in this championship,” commented John O’Mahony when all was said and done. “The championship season isn’t over for Mayo yet.”
Maybe not, but the clock is ticking for all concerned.


Sligo
P Greene; C Harrison, N McGuire, R Donavan; K Cawley, B Phillips, J Davey (0-1); T Taylor (0-1), S Gilmartin (0-1); A Costello (0-2), M Breheny (0-3, 3fs), K Sweeney; C McGee (0-4, 3fs), E O'Hara, D Kelly (0-3).
Sub used: S Coen for McGee.

Mayo
D Clarke; D Vaughan, G Cafferkey, K Higgins; P Gardiner, T Cunniffe, K McLoughlin; T Parsons, R McGarrity; A Moran (0-1), S O'Shea, T Mortimer; C Mortimer (0-3, 1f), A Freeman (1-4, 1-0 pen, 1f), E Varley.
Subs used: BJ Padden for S O'Shea; A O'Shea for Varley; M Ronaldson for T Mortimer; B Moran for Parsons; K Conroy for McGarrity.

Referee: J White (Donegal)