Connacht Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final

MAYO 1-22 NEW YORK 0-4

By Shane O’Brien at Gaelic Park

Mayo booked their place in the Connacht SFC semi-finals with the minimum of fuss when they cruised to a facile win over New York at a rain-soaked Gaelic Park.

Close encounters with Roscommon and Leitrim in recent years were definite signs of progress for New York, but any hopes of a similarly tight game were quashed by a ruthless Mayo side who showed their American counterparts no mercy.

In difficult playing conditions on a greasy pitch, the Westerners settled quickly and raced into a three-point lead courtesy of efforts from Evan Regan, James McCormack and Lee Keegan.

Mayo were superior in every department, and New York simply couldn’t live with them. Kick-out after kick-out was collected by a player clad in red and green and Mayo quickly began to really impose themselves on the affair.

Within 20 minutes of the throw in, the game was effectively over as a contest. Mayo were putting on an exhibition and landing scores from all angles, a spectacular effort from Lee Keegan with the outside of his right boot the pick of the bunch.

Mayo were 14 points ahead by the time New York finally registered a score on the half hour mark when Luke Kelly curled over and raised the biggest cheer of the afternoon. That was soon followed by an excellent point from Daniel McKenna from a difficult angle, but it only seemed to spark Mayo into life once more.

The kick-out again proving to be New York’s Achilles Heel, Mayo fashioned a goal chance off a breaking ball. Evan Reagan was sent through one-on-one with Vinnie Cadden and saw his effort rebound back into his arms, leaving him with the simplest of tasks of tapping the ball into the empty net to stretch Mayo’s lead to 16 on the stroke of half time.

The second half turned out to be a non-event, with Mayo taking their foot off the pedal and emptying the bench early. The league champions slowly added to their tally through Rob Hennelly, Evan Reagan and substitute Michael Plunkett, before Luke Kelly scored his second of the afternoon; a spectacular effort from the narrowest of angles.

It was scant consolation, however, as Mayo went through the gears in the remaining minutes to book their place in the semi-finals with a maximum degree of comfort.

Scorers for Mayo: Evan Regan 1-5 (4fs), Fergal Boland 0-4, Kevin McLoughlin 0-2, Jason Doherty 0-2, Robert Hennelly 0-1 (’45), Ciaran Treacy 0-1, Patrick Durcan 0-1, Lee Keegan 0-1, James McCormack 0-1, Darren Coen 0-1, James Carr 0-1, Matthew Ruane 0-1, Michael Plunkett 0-1.

Scorers for New York: Luke Kelly 0-2, Kevin Finn 0-1, Daniel McKenna 0-1.

MAYO: Robert Hennelly; Colm Boyle, Brendan Harrison, Keith Higgins; Patrick Durcan (capt) Lee Keegan, James McCormack; Matthew Ruane, Aidan O’Shea; Evan Regan, Jason Doherty, Fergal Boland; Kevin McLoughlin, Darren Coen, James Carr.

Subs: Ciaran Treacy for Doherty (HT), David Drake for Higgins (41) Michael Plunkett for Keegan (41), Conor Diskin for Coen (51), Stephen Coen for Ruane (60), Andy Moran for Carr (64).

NEW YORK: Vinny Cadden; Michael Creegan, Gerard McCartan, Robert Gorman; Paddy Boyle, Michael Naughton, Matthe Queenan; Cathal Compton, Sean Hurley; Shane Hogan, Luke Kelly, Daniel McKenna; David Freedman, Niall Madine (capt), Peter Hatzer.

Subs: Conor Connolly for Naughton (29), Kevin Finn for Creegan (51), Ryan Kerley for McCartan (51), Dylan McDermott for McKenna (59), Shane Slattery for Hogan (67), Tiernan Mathers for Madine (70).

REFEREE: Conor Lane (Cork)