Mayo hurlers blown away by Derry
IT was a day to forget for the Mayo hurlers as they were well beaten by Derry in Owenbeg on a scoreline of 4-24 to 1-14 in this Round 3 encounter in Division 2B of the Allianz NHL.
Mayo senior hurling manager Derek Walsh made seven changes from the side that were defeated by London last weekend in Ruislip, with the likes of Keith Higgins, Eoin Delaney, Sean Kenny, Gary Nolan, Bobby Douglas, Paul Kirwan all returning to the side for this encounter at the Derry GAA Centre of Excellence, the match being played here due to an unplayable pitch in Celtic Park.
Mayo cancelled out three early points for Derry when Adrian Phillips long ball found Ryan Butler, who finished past Oisin O’Doherty into the net to level for the Green and Red.
Two scores from Sean Kenny (one a free) and a Shane Boland free kept Mayo to within three of Derry by the 20th minute mark, 0-9 to 1-3, with the hosts finding their target too easily from a Mayo perspective.
Derry’s continuous pressure told when John Mullan dispossessed Keith Higgins before running on to fire into the net from a tight angle.
Derry added another five without reply, with Eoin Delaney stopping the rot for Mayo. But Derry would effectively put this contest to bed as Odhran McKeever scored Derry’s second goal on the stroke of half-time to see The Oak Leaf County lead 2-14 to 1-7 at the interval.
Any remote hope that Mayo was extinguished inside the opening five minutes of the second half, as Sean Kelly hit 1-2 and Deaghlan Foley scored 1-1 to put the result beyond all doubt.
The intensity of the game petered out from as both side rang the changes. Keith Higgins, Sean Kenny, Darren Murray, Eoin Delaney and Aaron Ketterick made Mayo's scoreline a bit more respectable, but Derry would finish with a another five-point flurry to run out 19-point winners in the end.
Mayo will have to respond quickly as they welcome Sligo to Ballina. Anything less than a win will likely see Mayo in a relegation play-off.
Derry: O. O’Doherty; C. Hendry (0-1), M. Craig, D. McCloskey; M. McGrath (0-1), R. Mullan, E. McGill; C. O’Doherty (0-6f), D. McGilligan (0-2); S. Kelly (1-3), J. Mullan (1-1), C. Kelly (0-3); D. Foley (1-4), O. McKeever (1-1), T. McHugh.
Subs: T. McHugh, F. Bradley (0-2), N. Farren, T. McCloskey, R. Mulholland.
Mayo: B. Douglas; G. Nolan, D. Kenny, D. Huane; B. Hunt, K. Higgins (0-2f), C. Murray; P. Kirwan, S. Kenny (0-5, 0-4f); E. Delaney (0-4, 0-1f), A. Phillips, P. Lyons; C. Hession, R. Butler (1-0), S. Boland (0-1f).
Subs: A. Ketterick (0-1), D. Hill, D. Murray (0-1), K. Gallagher, M. Walsh.
Ref: K. Parke (Antrim).