Leitrim U20 and senior footballer, Barry McNulty.
EirGrid Connacht U20 Football Championship
LEITRIM 3-12 MAYO 0-16
GALWAY 2-16 SLIGO 2-12
Just three rounds in, the Eirgrid Connacht U-20 Football Championship continues to provide drama and quality in equal measure, with two more enthralling contests played out this evening.
The story of the night has to be Leitrim’s 3-12 to 0-16 win over previously unbeaten Mayo in Ballinamore, a result that justifies Andy Moran’s decision to select senior players Barry McNulty and Jack Foley, thus ruling them out of Sunday’s Connacht SFC clash with Sligo in Carrick-on-Shannon.
The real star of the show however was a player still not old enough to play adult intercounty football – full forward Paul Honeyman, who scored 0-10 and had a key role in two of the Leitrim goals.
It was Honeyman who played in Ben Guckian for Leitrim to take the lead (1-1 to 0-2) after nine minutes, and while Mayo briefly got on level terms through Tom O’Flaherty and Niall Hurley, Leitrim kicked four of the next five, three from the boot of last year’s minor captain.
Again the contest was in the melting pot early in the second half when Paul Moran claimed a high ball over the head of the defender and drove the ball under the Mayo keeper to make it 2-7 to 0-9, and four minutes later Honeyman flicked the ball off the crossbar and into the waiting arms of Jack Casey, who had an easy finish to put his team well on the road to victory.
In terms of quality, the fare in Tuam Stadium was right out of the top drawer, with Galway ultimately claiming a 2-16 to 2-12 win over Sligo.
The 2023 champions are now bottom of the table with one win from two games, and while they have eight players back from last year’s All-Ireland final team and no shortage of quality, the pressure is on ahead of what looks like a huge local derby against Leitrim at Markievicz Park next week.
Their failure to take goal chances was crucial tonight. Conor Walsh and Ronan Niland found the net for the Yeats County in each half, but they also hit the crossbar three times, while Walsh and midfielder Conor Sheridan also failed to hit the target from inside the large square with crucial chances.
Galway didn’t dominate the battle for possession at all, but all six forwards scored at least twice from play, while teenager Shay McGlinchey gave a towering performance at midfield, kicking the score of the game before half-time.
Goals from Conor Heneghan and Colm Costello, the latter set up by a glorious long pass from Ronan Colleran, meant Galway went from 1-4 to 0-4 behind to taking a 2-12 to 1-6 lead early in the second half. Sligo rallied from there, with Ross Doherty and Eli Rooney kicking some good scores either side of Niland’s goal, but they needed to finish some of their other opportunities, and couldn’t do so.