All-Ireland SFC: Mayo triumph again

All-Ireland SFC Group Two

Mayo 2-14 Roscommon 1-15

By Ian Cooney at Dr Hyde Park

Mayo beat Roscommon for the third time this year as second-half goals from Ryan O’Donoghue and Donnacha McHugh confirmed the Green and Red’s progression from Group Two at Dr Hyde Park.

Roscommon produced a late rally, which procured a goal from the penalty spot by Conor Cox, but they had left themselves with too much to do.

In front of 8,597 spectators, Kevin McStay’s men always held the upper hand but their evening was slightly soured by Fergal Boland’s red card late on.

From a Roscommon perspective, an injury to Enda Smith won’t have improved the mood among Rossie supporters ahead of their crunch game against Cavan in two weeks’ time.

The sides were level seven times during the opening 35 minutes, but Mayo missed a hatful of chances, including Darren McHale blasting wide with the goal at his mercy.

The first four points were shared — Donie Smith and Diarmuid Murtagh (free) on target for the Rossies, while Darren McHale and Matthew Ruane split the posts for Mayo.

However, rapid-fire scores from Conor Cox (free) and Robbie Dolan edged Roscommon two points ahead, but Player of the Match Eoghan McLaughlin and Ryan O’Donoghue (free) brought the sides level, 0-4 apiece, by the end of the third quarter.

A superb individual score by Enda Smith edged the Rossies back in front before McLaughlin found a huge hole through the middle of the home side’s defence to bring the sides level once more.

Daire Cregg hit one of the points of the half before Jordan Flynn restored parity.

A 28th minute free from Ryan O’Donoghue put Mayo ahead for the first time but Ciarán Lennon became Roscommon’s seventh scorer of the half to tie the contest at 0-7 apiece.

There was still time for O’Donoghue and Cox (free) to swap scores to leave the sides deadlocked at 0-8 each, but the wise money was on Mayo with wind advantage to come.

For most of that second half, they justified their favouritism as Cillian O’Connor, from over 45 metres, McHale and O’Donoghue pushed Mayo 0-12 to 0-10 after 50 minutes.

Roscommon were struggling to get possession into their forwards, and had to rely on placed balls from Diarmuid Murtagh, Conor Carroll, from a ’45, and Conor Cox for their scores.

Mayo were patient before finding the pass to open up the Roscommon defence, and Flynn’s second score of the game was followed by the game’s pivotal moment on the hour mark.

Mayo moved the ball swiftly to O’Donoghue who was fouled in the eyes of referee Barry Cassidy, although Roscommon argued that the Mayo forward had taken too many steps.

Up stepped O’Donoghue to confidently stroke home the penalty and hand his side a 1-12 to 0-11 lead.

Substitute Keith Doyle hit Roscommon’s first point from play of the half but when defender Donnacha McHugh fastened himself to another swift Mayo move, a 2-13 to 0-13 lead looked unassailable with two minutes remaining.

But Roscommon rallied and when substitute Dylan Ruane was upended, Conor Cox raised a green flag from a confidently-taken penalty.

Lively substitute Tommy Conroy gave Mayo some breathing space, before late points from Donie Smith and Ultan Harney pared the margin back to two points.

But Roscommon had left themselves with too much to do as Mayo backed up their opening round victory against Cavan to guarantee progression from the group.

Scorers for Mayo: Ryan O’Donoghue 1-4 (1-0 pen, 2fs), Donnacha McHugh 1-0, Eoghan McLaughlin 0-3, Jordan Flynn 0-2, Darren McHale 0-2, Matthew Ruane 0-1, Cillian O’Connor 0-1, Tommy Conroy 0-1.

Scorers for Roscommon: Conor Cox 1-4 (1-0 pen, 3fs, 1m), Donie Smith 0-2, Diarmuid Murtagh 0-2 (2f), Conor Carroll 0-1 (45), Robbie Dolan 0-1, Enda Smith 0-1, Ciarán Lennon 0-1, Daire Cregg 0-1, Keith Doyle 0-1, Ultan Harney 0-1

Mayo: Colm Reape; David McBrien, Pádraig Ó’Hora, Sam Callinan; Stephen Coen, Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh; Jack Carney, Matthew Ruane; Eoghan McLaughlin, Ryan O’Donoghue, Jordan Flynn; Darren McHale, Aidan O’Shea, Cillian O’Connor.

Subs: Conor Loftus for McBrien h-t, Tommy Conroy for O’Connor 53, Fergal Boland for O’Shea 62, Enda Hession for McHale 68, Bob Tuohy for McLoughlin 70.

Roscommon: Conor Carroll; David Murray, Brian Stack, Niall Higgins; Niall Daly, Robbie Dolan, Eoin McCormack; Enda Smith, Tadhg O’Rourke; Conor Hamd, Donie Smith, Ciarán Lennon; Conor Cox, Daire Cregg, Diarmuid Murtagh.

Subs: Keith Doyle for Hand h-t, Dylan Ruane for Lennon 44, Ultan Harney for O’Rourke 53, Ruaidhrí Fallon for Daly 53, Shane Cunnane for Dolan 63.

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry).