Third Connacht minor title in a row secured by Mayo

Mayo secured their third Connacht minor football title in a row with a 0-14 to 0-10 victory over Roscommon in Dr. Hyde Park this evening.

It proved to be a tighter affair than the previous clash between the teams in the opening round of the championship back in the middle of April. On that occasion Mayo won by 2-13 to 2-7 pulling up, with Roscommon's second goal coming in injury time at the end of the game.

There was no suggestion at any stage in the decider that Mayo would run away with it this time around as Roscommon showed that lessons had been learned from that game seven weeks ago and throughout the campaign since then.

The opening half was tit-for-tat and the game was tied at 0-5 apiece by the break. Oisin Deane, Evan Walsh, Conor Moriarty and Kobe McDonald (two, one free) were all on target for Mayo, while the Roscommon scorers were Dara Curran (two, one free), Dean Casey, Alan Conroy and Stephen Tighe.

It was still a close affair in the third quarter, and Roscommon – with Curran and Casey maintaining their good form in front of the posts – actually held the lead twice in the early stages.

Mayo, at 0-6 to 0-7 behind, slowly began to take control, helped by the drive of man of the match David Hurley, Josh Moyles, Owen Loughney and Dylan Flynn.

They reeled off four points in a row through Walsh, McDonald, Deane and Andrew Quinn to take a three-point lead (0-10 to 0-7) and while Roscommon got to within one again, the defending champions landed four of the last five points to turn home their advantage.

Roscommon's hopes weren't helped when goalkeeper Patrick Gaynor picked up a black card for a foul on Mayo substitute Joe Forry, who had robbed him of possession in a dangerous area. It left them with just 14 players on the field for most of the final 10 minutes of the game.

Forry scored one of Mayo's points in the run of scores during the closing stages, with McDonald chipping over a number of frees, and the defending champions ran out deserving winners by four in the end.

Next up for Mayo is an All-Ireland quarterfinal against Cork in two weeks' time.

*See Tuesday's print edition for a comprehensive report on the game