Mayo survive late Roscommon surge to leave the Hyde with victory
Mayo survived a late Roscommon surge to claim victory by 2-14 to 1-15 in their All-Ireland Senior Football Championship clash at Dr. Hyde Park.
In a frantic end to the contest, Mayo conceded a goal and two points to just a point in reply during an injury-time period that also saw substitute Fergal Boland sent off for what appeared to be on first viewing a fairly innocuous clash.
By hanging on for victory, Mayo have full points from two games in Group 2 of the All-Ireland series, meaning they can prepare for the final round game against Dublin with certainty that they have a place in the preliminary quarterfinal at the very least.
Mayo looked home and hosed when their second goal hit the net, Donnacha McHugh with a fisted finish following an intricate move – a score that shot them six points ahead (2-13 to 0-13) in the 69th minute of the match.
Their first goal had come from the penalty spot on 60 minutes, scored by Ryan O'Donoghue, while Roscommon also hit the net with a spot kick, Conor Cox's effort in the first minute of injury time making it a three-point game (2-13 to 1-13) with at least two minutes of injury time to be played.
As it turned out, there were four more minutes played, but a portion was spent in debate by the officials. Following those discussions, Roscommon didn't get a penalty when a shot came off a Mayo foot, though seeing as there was no dangerous element to it a penalty was unlikely to have been awarded. But there was a red card shown to Fergal Boland and Roscommon had a 45' that was worked short to Donie Smith, who popped the ball over the bar to leave his team a goal behind (1-14 to 2-14), Tommy Conroy having put Mayo four ahead again following Cox's penalty.
Mayo went long with the kick-out following Smith's score but Roscommon won possession and worked the ball forward. Mayo piled men back and the when substitute Ultan Harney pulled the trigger under pressure, his shot went high and over the bar. The final whistle sounded when Colm Reape launched the subsequent kick-out, signalling a second victory in the group for Mayo following the win over Cavan two weeks ago.
The first half was lively but didn't really predict the fireworks that were to come later on. It was a period marked by misplaced kick-outs, especially on the Roscommon side, and wayward shooting, particularly from Mayo. Eight wides for Mayo tells its own tale, while Roscommon hardly won a kick-out of their own when they went long – and they were forced to go long quite often.
That would suggest Mayo were the happier of the two teams going in at the break on terms, 0-8 apiece, their points coming from from Ryan O'Donoghue (three, two frees), Eoghan McLaughlin (two), Matthew Ruane, Jordan Flynn and Darren McHale.
At the other end, late replacement Padraig O'Hora was guilty of a misplaced pass that indirectly led to one Roscommon score but he also made a few telling interventions, and his tussle with Conor Cox was fierce.
Cox managed two points in the first half, both frees, while Robbie Dolan, Enda Smith, Donie Smith, Ciarán Lennon, Daire Cregg and Diarmuid Murtagh (free) all found the target as well.
It set them up nicely for the second half, but Mayo looked like they were pulling away on a few occasions only to be pegged back by the Rossies, who just came up short in their comeback efforts.
*See Tuesday's print edition for a full report on the game