ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE Mayo 2-14 Galway 0-12:THIS WAS Mayo's weekend and even if the Taoiseach-elect, contrary to local rumour, did not take his seat in the stand at Tuam Stadium, the county team recorded a win against their closest rivals that at times bordered on a landslide.
The fierce backyard scrap that many had anticipated never materialised and, instead, Galway fell into a funk in the second half, downed by two superbly-finished goals by Jason Doherty and they now face improbable odds to avoid the drop into Division Two.
In the broader scheme of things, maintaining Division One status is not central to Galway’s concerns, with a visit to Kerry next on their agenda.
Division One puts certain teams through the wringer each year and the immediate task facing Tomás Ó Flatharta is to try to build team morale and get his strongest squad together through what promises to be a punishing second half of the league.
The home team enjoyed a decent first half, scoring the first three points of the match and, after playing into the breeze, trailing by 1-07 to 0-7 at the break.
The dispiriting thing for Galway supporters was how quickly they drifted out of contention following the restart; after 52 minutes, the score was 2-12 to 0-7 and the match was effectively over.
“We have tough games ahead of us now and there is a lot of room for improvement and the only ones that can do that is ourselves,” Ó Flatharta said afterwards.
“We were doing okay in the first half against the breeze, but Mayo got some early scores and our heads dropped. We just have to look at the bigger picture. The priority is to start improving and to play better football. We have to stick together . . .”
It was a very satisfying derby day for Mayo and originated from the solidity of the back unit. Yet again, Robert Hennelly impressed in his goalkeeping, sharp and assured and there to smother a shot from Danny Cummins after 14 minutes when Galway were moving with conviction.
Ahead of him, Richie Feeney and Tom Cunniffe gave outstanding performances on the right wing and Kevin McLoughlin, in this match operating as a wing forward willing to drop back rather than a wing back dying to break forward, was full of energy and creativity and kicked three excellent points.
Aidan Campbell of Swinford impressed at right-half forward.
And in his first full league debut, Doherty caught the eye.
The Burrishoole man looked confident and aggressive even before his goals, which he delivered in the 22nd and 48th minutes. But his cool, precision finishing was notable. as he placed his shots with surgical precision and true calmness under pressure.
“That is no surprise,” James Horan said afterwards. “Jason Doherty is a fine, fine footballer and a real finisher and hopefully he can build on that today.”
Doherty’s second goal took the heat out of the game and collectively, Mayo drifted out of the match for a period.
Not everything worked for Mayo: their repeated attempts to work the high ball into an increasingly frustrated Aidan O’Shea amounted to little and it took an important Ger Cafferkey block to cancel a Galway goal chance with 10 minutes remaining.
But even with Cormac Bane striking two fine points from play as Galway made the scoreboard more respectable, there was no hiding from the fact that this was a miserable afternoon for Galway.
Finian Hanley looked very comfortable at centre back, living easily with the pace and unpredictability of Alan Dillon, but he was sent in to the edge of the square when the score line started to look ominous.
Joe Bergin struck two fine points in a lively first half and Seán Armstrong looked the most natural marksman on the field.
But Galway had drifted out of contention by the time the Salthill man floated his first point from play with 10 minutes remaining. By then, the conviction had left the Galway men and had Mayo been more ruthless, the home team might have suffered more.
Galway kept trying and Ó Flatharta ran his bench from the first half but right now, they look critically low on confidence. Horan was quick to stress he would not pay too much attention to Galway’s form just now.
“Our performance was very good. We got a bit complacent in the second half – Galway came down and got a few points when we should have been driving on.
“I was concerned at half-time because we kicked four into their goalkeeper’s hands and were taking wrong shots. We started well after half-time and Galway dropped a little bit. There will be a lot more from Galway in the summer: they are a lot better than they played today.”
The home fans hurried away from Tuam hoping that was so.
MAYO: R Hennelly; T Cunniffe, A Feeney, C Barrett; R Feeney, G Cafferkey, J Burke; R McGarrity, J Kilcullen; A Campbell (0-3, 2 frees), A Dillon (0-5, 4 frees), K McLoughlin (0-3); A O'Shea (0-1 free), A Moran (0-1), J Doherty (2-1). Subs: C Hallinan for A Feeney (ht inj), P Gardiner for J Burke (51 mins), J Moran for A Campbell (60 mins).
GALWAY: P Lally; A Burke, C Forde, D Reilly; G O'Donnell, F Hanley, K Brady; P Conroy, E Hoare; J Bergin (0-3), C Bane (0-5, two frees), G Sice; S Armstrong (0-4, one 45, two frees), D Cummins, C Kenny. Subs: D O'Reilly for D Reilly (26 mins), O Concannon for D Cummins (26 mins), B Blake for P Conroy (50 mins), D Mullahy for C Forde (53 mins), N Coyne for K Brady (60 mins).
Referee: D Fathaigh(Longford).
