Mayo go top of the league with victory over Tyrone
Goal-hungry Mayo beat Tyrone convincingly in Division 1 of the Allianz National Football League this evening, winning an entertaining clash by 4-10 to 0-12 at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar.
The win put Mayo top of the table, though Roscommon can re-take top spot if they avoid defeat against Monaghan tomorrow afternoon.
After a slow start by Mayo that saw the Ulster team go three points ahead inside eight minutes, the home side settled and ultimately proved too hot in attack for the Tyrone defence to handle, the four goals all resulting from inventive and incisive play.
The first Mayo goal on 25 minutes put them into lead that they were never to relinquish. Enda Hession created it with a surging run and clever pass to Aidan O'Shea, whose shot found the net after via touches off Tyrone's Niall Morgan and Frank Burns.
Now 1-2 to 0-4 up, Mayo continued to pummel the Tyrone rearguard and were rewarded with a second goal on 31 minutes. It was created thanks to a stunning pass by Aidan O'Shea to James Carr, who gave the delivery the finish it deserved with a low drive to the bottom left corner past flailing Tyrone 'keeper Morgan.
The 2-5 to 0-5 half-time lead set Mayo up nicely for the second half, and a goal of superb quality just five minutes into the new period put the result beyond doubt. After impressing in the move for the first goal, Hession repeated the trick and this time finished it off himself after a one-two with Ryan O'Donoghue and a fake shot to take Morgan out of the game, leaving himself with the simple task of rolling the ball into the empty net.
From there on out it was a matter of managing the game, and the home side did it well. A fourth goal was the icing on the cake as man of the match Diarmuid O'Connor played a short free to Jordan Flynn, took the return and powered through the parting Tyrone rearguard before slamming a shot beyond Morgan.
While the 10-point victory (4-10 to 0-12) would be the most pleasing aspect of the evening, the return to action of both Jason Doherty and Tommy Conroy was also notable. Additionally, those 14 Mayo scores were tallied up by 12 different players – a quite remarkable statistic.
Mayo: C. Reape (0-1); J. Coyne, D. McBrien, E. Hession (1-0); S. Coen, C. Loftus (0-1), D. McHugh; M. Ruane (0-1), D. O'Connor (1-0); F. McDonagh (0-1), J. Carney (0-1), J. Flynn; A. O'Shea (1-0), J. Carr (1-0), R. O'Donoghue (0-3).
Subs used: S. Callinan, P. Durcan, J. Doherty (0-1), C. O'Connor (0-1), T. Conroy.
Tyrone: N. Morgan (0-3); M. McKernan, C. Munroe, P. Hampsey; C. Quinn, P. Harte, D. Mulgrew; B. Kennedy, F. Burns (0-2); C. Meyler, C. Kilpatrick, J. Oguz; D. McCurry (0-4), C. McShane, D. Canavan (0-2).
Subs used: N. Devlin, M. Donnelly, R. Canavan (0-1), K. McGeary, L. Rafferty.