Mayo stave off late Sligo rally to make Connacht semi-final

Mayo staved off a late Sligo resurgence to get over the line with three points to spare and book their place in the Connacht Senior Football Championship semi-final against Leitrim in two weeks’ time, writes John Melvin.

It finished 2-20 to 2-17 at a sun-kissed Hastings Insurance MacHale Park this afternoon before a crowd of just over 9,000.

Sligo, to their credit, never threw in the towel and were snapping at Mayo’s heels for long periods of this game, particularly in the last 10 minutes when they kicked two two-pointers, one from Alan McLoughlin followed by another from Niall Murphy which was highly questionable as it seemed to be inside the arc but was allowed to stand by referee Noel Mooney from Cavan.

It set up a grandstand finish with less than two minutes remaining but Mayo held out to deservedly win, yet you sense conceding two goals - particularly the manner in which they were finished – will be a worry for Kevin McStay.

Mayo led by three points at half-time (1-8 to 0-8), Ryan O’Donoghue’s sixth minute goal separating the sides as he fired to the net after goalkeeper Colm Reape picked out Davitt Neary with a pin-point pass and he in turn found Darren McHale who set the Belmullet man for a stunning finish.

The home side appeared to be in the driving seat when Aidan O’Shea found the Sligo net just two minutes into the second half, but Sligo replied almost immediately with a goal of their own which was superbly finished by Luke Towey to make it 2-9 to 1-8, and it was game on for sure.

With O’Shea now operating around the middle and Jack Carney moved into the attack, Mayo began to regain control of the game. Carney, Darren McHale and substitute Fergal Boland (two) nailed points as Mayo went nine points clear – 2-17 to 1-11 – but there was another goal in Sligo, the superb Cian Lally leaving the Mayo defence for dead as he fired to the net to make it a five-point game.

Sligo had a golden opportunity to close the gap to two points but Pat Spillane could only hold his head in horror as he blew an open goal chance 12 minutes from time.

O’Donoghue (free) and a fisted point for substitute Boland eased the pressure as they went ahead by seven again but those two late two-pointers had Sligo within three of Mayo.

With the game in the last minute, a huge catch from O’Shea at midfield prevented any possibility of Sligo snatching something from this game with a late goal.

Work to be done, for sure, but it is worth noting Mayo had six players making their championship debut in this game, so the manager is giving players the chance to show what they have. A few did turn up, while quite a few seasoned player stood up following some poor performances against Kerry in the league final.

Mayo: Colm Reape; Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh, Enda Hession (0-1); Sam Callinan, David McBrien, Stephen Coen; Jack Carney (0-3), Matthew Ruane (0-1); Davitt Neary (0-1), Darren McHale (0-4), Fenton Kelly; Aidan O’Shea (1-3), Dylan Thornton (0-1), Ryan O’Donoghue (1-4, 4f).

Subs used: Diarmuid O’Connor, Fergal Boland (0-2), Niall Coggins, Sean Morahan, Conal Dawson, Paul Towey.

Sligo: Daniel Lyons; Evan Lyons, Eddie McGuinness, Paul McNamara; Brian Cox, Nathan Mullen, Luke Towey (1-0); Canice Mulligan, Patrick O’Connor; Cian Lally (1-1), David Quinn (0-1), Alan Reilly; Alan McLoughlin (0-5, 1tp, 1f), Niall Murphy (0-7, 1tp), Pat Spillane (0-2).

Subs used: Ross Doherty, Shane Deignan, Lee Deignan, Oisin Flynn (0-1), Mikey Gordon.

Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).

*See Tuesday's print edition for a full report