Cork 1-17 Mayo 0-12:PERHAPS THE big Ulster contingent from Armagh and Down sensed the general football community should get out while ahead. They were vindicated on the way home, as yesterday's Division One decider at Croke Park proved easily the worst of the four Allianz NFL divisional finals played over the weekend.
The GAA might have wished for a more compelling climax to the two days but at least Cork supporters of the 27,005 in attendance respected the congress-backed policy not to invade the pitch after finals.
Mayo’s familiar lack of a clinical finish again haunted them. Six first-half wides and a jittery apprehension in the scoring zone combined to leave the Connacht champions desperately short of scores, taking until the 23rd minute to register their second point, despite significant territorial advantage.
Cork by contrast were efficiency personified, jabbing on the counter and picking off points. By the time Mayo notched that second point through an Alan Dillon free, five of the six Cork forwards had scored from play.
If mistakes were costing Mayo, fortune didn’t bail them out either. In the 17th minute Kevin McLaughlin, whose attacking drive from wing back was one positive feature for Mayo, dropped the ball into the square on one such raid and Aidan O’Shea got a hand to it but saw the effort come back off the bar before the defence scrambled out of trouble.
A minute later Dillon placed Mark Ronaldson in behind the cover and although it was far from a straightforward chance he couldn’t get the shot on goal. Jamie O’Sullivan, who did well at full back combating Aidan O’Shea, put in a 19th minute block on the full forward.
Mayo rallied a little towards the end of the first half. Conor Mortimer kicked three points, two from play, and the margin remained at three and four with Donncha O’Connor particularly prominent in the second quarter.
Having given Trevor Howley a bit of a run-around in the divisional match a fortnight previously until Cork switched him to the corner, O’Connor must have been surprised to find the Mayo centre back again his constant companion, as he rattled off five points, three from play.
The productivity tailed off in the second half but with only a couple of minutes’ ambiguity just after the restart, the second half was virtually entirely uncompetitive.
Conor Counihan’s experiment of placing Aidan Walsh, destined to be a half back, at centrefield worked well as the young Kanturk player had a storming second half, winning a string of possession despite the introduction of Ronan McGarrity to the Mayo engine room and energetically taking the game forward.
Cork re-established control. Alan O’Connor, who grafted effectively at centrefield, tipped over a point and a couple of minutes later picked out his partner Walsh for another.
Ciarán Sheehan, who had a frustrating afternoon, spilling a few possessions in his eagerness to get on the ball, dropped a little deeper and his team began to exploit the space.
Noel O’Leary blasted up the wing for a point and with just a couple of frees from Conor Mortimer and Dillon as interruption Cork continued to pile up the scores. Then in the 63rd minute, 0-17 to 0-9, it all stopped mattering anymore. A sweeping move ended with Sheehan perceptively picking out Goulding and the finish was emphatic.
It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means. Cork’s play was intermittently scrappy and careless with hand passes going astray – at one stage out for a 45 – but Mayo looked demoralised and incapable of taking advantage.
They rallied to stick over the last three points of the afternoon but the match had long been beyond them. It had until yesterday been a good, restorative league for them but without unveiling any new game-changing players. That inescapable reality was illustrated yesterday.
Winning manager Conor Counihan, who has now added the Division One to the Division Two title in successive years, has found new players but must carefully work out how they and the established injured, like Graham Canty, Anthony Lynch, John Miskella and Pearse O’Neill, can be configured into a championship team that will justify their rating as All-Ireland favourites.
CORK:P O'Shea; E Cotter, J O'Sullivan, R Carey; P Kissane, M Shields, N O'Leary (0-1); A O'Connor (0-1), A Walsh (0-1); F Goold, D O'Connor (0-5, two frees), P Kelly (0-1); D Goulding (1-5, one point a free), C Sheehan (0-2), P Kerrigan (0-1). Subs:N Murphy for Goold (59 mins), D Kavanagh for A O'Connor (66 mins), C O'Neill for D O'Connor (66 mins), J Hayes for Goulding (70 mins).
MAYO:D Clarke; C Barrett, G Cafferkey, L O'Malley; D Vaughan, T Howley, K McLoughlin; T Parsons, S O'Shea (0-2); A Moran (0-1), A Dillon (0-3, frees), T Mortimer; C Mortimer (0-6, three frees), A O'Shea, M Ronaldson. Subs:R McGarrity for Ronaldson (half-time), A Kilcoyne for T Mortimer (51 mins), A Freeman for Parsons (63 mins), P Harte for A O'Shea (68 mins), B Moran for C Mortimer (68 mins).
Referee:P Hughes (Armagh).
