Mayo dominate against old rivals

Mayo 1-12 Galway 1-6:A FORTNIGHT after almost meeting disaster against London, Mayo find themselves in more familiar country. This will not go down as a memorable Connacht semi-final between the old rivals in the west and rarely has one side dominated so completely.

In the end, it was something of a procession in the rain, with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Islandeady’s new boxing hero, Ray Moylette, among the guests. The men tried to make up for the lack of entertainment in the first half by briefly sparring.

Afterwards, the Saw Doctors were the sound of choice on the stadium loudspeakers as the crowd of 19,375 made their way home on a damp afternoon straight out of February.

It was not the best showcase for Connacht football but then the weather did nothing to facilitate that.

Mayo owned the second half, outscoring Galway by 1-8 to 0-1 and the last 10 minutes of the match were a celebration. Rarely do Mayo have the luxury of enjoying their scores as they did here. Galway simply wilted and but for two excellent second half saves by goalkeeper Adrian Faherty, this could have been an even more damaging defeat.

The visitors looked in a relatively good position on the scoreboard at half-time, with Paul Conroy getting a toe to a ball broken by Pádraic Joyce to give them a 1-5 to 0-4 lead after a truly awful 35 minutes of football.

But the scoreboard was deceiving (at least it would have been had it been switched on. The big unit wasn’t working here yesterday, leaving just the old one at the Bacon Factory End). Galway couldn’t get hands on the ball and playing into a tricky wind, the Mayo forwards fired wides from all angles.

They returned after the half-time tea with the same hunger and sharpness but added accuracy and growing confidence to their game and Alan Freeman’s 57th minute goal – craftily slid underneath the previously unbeatable Faherty – left them in command.

This was a good afternoon for Mayo manager James Horan. All six of his starting forwards scored and the defensive effort was brave and committed on a greasy day. Trevor Mortimer had an assured return, harassing any Galway man in his vicinity and clipping a much needed first half point.

Tom Cunniffe had an exceptional game and his Castlebar team-mate Richie Feeney was also prominent. Bizarrely, goalkeeper Robert Hennelly seemed to provide the main fulcrum of their attack in the first half. He hoofed two frees when Mayo badly needed points and showed a willingness to trot up field to try his luck from any angle during a period when Mayo’s regular place kickers were struggling. But the fundamentals were in place and once the forward line got motoring in the second half, his visits upfield were curtailed.

Mayo meant business from early in the second half, with Freeman racing on to a pass from Kevin McLoughlin and driving a shot which Faherty tipped over for a point. Two minutes later, Cillian O’Connor finished a cleverly worked exchange between Freeman and Andy Moran from a sideline ball. Alarm bells were ringing now in the Galway back division, a sector low on experience.

Colin Forde was unlucky for the Mayo goal, following Freeman out the field and getting caught in no man’s land when Moran took possession and snapped a sharp pass to the full forward. Once Freeman turned, the full back was always going to be chasing and the Mayo man’s finish was excellent.

After that, it was all Mayo. Galway sent in Michael Meehan but the struggle to provide ball to their danger men worsened as the day wore on: frustration saw Joyce and Meehan pick up yellow cards late in the game. Their lone second half score might have been a goal: Joyce found Eoin Concannon with a wonderful hand pass and he fired hard but just over the crossbar.

That left the scores level at 0-9 to 1-6 but the visitors were struggling. Mattie Clancy did get his hands on some ball after his introduction but overall, Galway made little impression. They were well beaten through the last 10 minutes of the match. Ronan McGarrity was introduced and dug out a ball to which he had no right for Freeman to point.

Then McGarrity added the grace note, kicking a wonderfully curled point in front of the stand, walking away with his arms raised as it travelled between the posts.

Galway have a fortnight now to prepare for the qualifiers. This defeat will deepen the residual gloom in the county after the hurlers’ loss against Dublin.

For Mayo, that day against London is all but forgotten as they prepare to face Roscommon in Hyde Park on July 17th.

MAYO: 1 R Hennelly (0-2, both frees); 2 T Cunniffe, 3 A Feeney, 4 K Higgins; 5 R Feeney, 6 D Vaughan, 7 T Mortimer (0-1); 8 S O’Shea, 9 A O’Shea; 10 K McLoughlin (0-1), 11 A Dillon (0-1, free), 12 A Moran (0-1); 13 C O’Connor (0-1), 14 A Freeman (1-2), 15 J Doherty (0-1, free). Subs: R McGarrity (0-1) for S O’Shea (62 mins), E Varley (0-1) for O’Connor (65 mins), P Gardiner for McLoughlin (70 mins). Yellow cards: Cunniffe (13 mins), A O’Shea (14 mins), O’Connor (31 mins), Higgins (36 mins).

GALWAY: 1 A Faherty; 2 A Burke, 3 C Forde, 4 J Duane; 5 G O’Donnell, 6 G Higgins, 7 G Sice; 8 J Bergin, 9 F Hanley; 10 E Concannon (0-1), 11 M Hehir, 12 G Bradshaw; 13 P Joyce (0-1, free), 14 P Conroy (1-0), 15 C Bane (0-4, 0-3 frees). Subs: D Blake for Hehir (43 mins), M Clancy for Conroy (50 mins), M Meehan for Bane (53 mins), D Cummins for Sice (67 mins). Yellow cards: Meehan (60 mins), Joyce (69 mins).

Referee: R Hickey (Clare).