Fourteen-man Mayo dig deep to see off the Rossies

Mayo looked to be in trouble in their Nicky Rackard Cup first round tie against Roscommon at Hasting Insurance MacHale Park this afternoon before they rallied in the second half to run out 1-21 to 1-14 winners, writes John Melvin.

Midfielder Joseph Burke was given a straight red card following an altercation with Roscommon’s Brendan Mulry after 27 minutes of what turned into a cracking game of hurling.

Mayo had their nose in front at the time, 0-6 to 0-5, but the extra man for Roscommon hurt the hosts, who trailed by two at the break (0-8 to 0-10).

Worse was to follow in the early minutes of the second half as a sideline ball from Roscommon’s Ben McGahon ended up in the Mayo net and when Roscommon added another point, Mayo found themselves five adrift.

To their credit, Mayo dug deep and turned this g name around in a superb second half, Shane Boland and Liam Lavin, who were very quiet in the first half, stepping up, the former ending up with seven points, including five frees, while Lavin popped three points.

However, the game-changing score came when Eoin Delaney found the net with 12 minutes remaining, Mayo closing out the game with great points from Lavin, Huane and Cormac Phillips, getting their campaign off to a winning start as they face Armagh in round two next Saturday.

The Mayo scorers were: S. Boland (0-7, 5f), C. Phillips (1-3, 2f, 1 65'), D. Huane (0-3), L. Lavin (0-3), R. Duffy (0-2), R. Duffy (0-2), J. Coyne (0-1).

For Roscommon, the scorers were: R. Fallon (0-4f), B. McGahon (1-0), J. Dowling (0-2), B. Mulry (0-2), C. Kenny (0-2), C. Mulry (0-1), E. Kiernan (0-1), F. Killon (0-1), C. Cosgrove (0-1).