Mayo and Heaney rock solid in defence

MAYO - 0-10 DOWN 0-5:League champions Mayo opened the defence of their title with a deserved win over a disappointing Down side at Ballina yesterday.

Down failed to produce the form that saw them overpower Fermanagh the previous Sunday and, to add to their problems all over the field in the second half, they were reduced to 14 players for the final 25 minutes. Corner back Kevin McGrath was sent off for a second bookable offence and was the fourth Down player to be yellow-carded.

During the week team manager Peter McGrath, following the win over Fermanagh, proclaimed that Down were on the way back to the force they were in the early 1990s but there was very little evidence of this yesterday.

Down's top scorer against Fermanagh, Shane McGrath, failed to score and Down depended mostly on former minor star Michael Walsh to keep them in touch.

The league champions were particularly impressive in defence and full back David Heaney - taking on the position following Kevin Cahill's retirement - turned in a man-of-the-match award performance.

The visitors, assisted by a diagonal wind, played the better football in the opening quarter and were two points clear before Conor Mortimer opened Mayo's account in the 21st minute; but the gap separating the teams by the 20th minute should have been greater as Down kicked a total of nine wides, most of them from scoreable positions.

Twice in the first half Mayo threatened to breach the Down defence for goals; but timely advances by goalkeeper Peter Travers denied them. On one such occasion the goalkeeper had to come out to the 20-metre line to beat Marty McNicholas in a chase for possession.

The Mayo defence began to dominate from the 15th minute to hold Down scoreless from the ninth minute until seven minutes into the second half. Points by McNicholas and Conor Mortimer left the league champions 0-3 to 0-2 ahead at the interval; and a succession of points by Conor Mortimer, Trevor Mortimer, James Gill and McNicholas left the issue in no doubt at the three-quarter stage.

MAYO: P Burke; G Ruane, D Heaney, P Coyne; A Higgins, J Nallen, N Connelly; S Trench, D Tiernan; J Gill (0-2), M Moyles, S Carolan; M McNicholas (0-2), J Horan, C Mortimer (0-5). Subs: T Mortimer (0-1) for Horan, D Nestor for Carolan, S Fitzmaurice for Trench.

DOWN: P Travers; K McGrath, C Byrne, B Grant; F Caulfield, M McGill, J Clarke; B Coulter, G McCartan; C Daly, M Walsh (0-3), R Murtagh (0-1); S Ward (0-1), A Oprey, S King. Subs: R Sexton for Oprey, P Bradley for Ward.

Referee: E Whelan (Laois)