MARTIN CARNEY: The beauty of witnessing the deed remains in the memory

UNBEATEN after four! Hands up, be honest - did you see this happening at the outset of the League with all the talk of retirements and Australia, the ‘best ever’ gone to punditry and the future to the AFL?

Whatever about you, I certainly didn’t envisage the freewheeling start to the season where over the last two weekends Mayo didn’t simply beat the last two reigning All-Ireland champions, they mauled them. I know the rejoinder ‘It’s only the league’ and all of that will get thrown back in my face but if I had been offered this at the commencement of the competition, I’d have taken it.

Mayo, once they got the wheels in motion after their tentative opening quarter, were hugely impressive against Tyrone. In that opening spell, which left in its wake a scoreless 17 minutes, the home team found it hard to get their hands on the ball, establish any rhythm or cope with the complexities of Tyrone’s movement.

Darragh Canavan and Darren McCurry in particular looked threatening for Tyrone. Further afield, their appetite in winning broken ball impressed and although not an exact science, this facet of the game is linked in my book with a team’s competitive intentions. In this regard, Tyrone held sway and Mayo’s defensive screens that had worked so well in earlier rounds struggled to calibrate.

Inch by inch, though, matters improved. The relentless work of Fionn McDonagh and Diarmuid O’Connor began to reap dividends. Ryan O’Donoghue’s opening score for the team on 18 minutes provided reassurance and the attacking thrusts of Donnacha McHugh, Stephen Coen, Enda Hession and Matthew Ruane appeared to sow doubts in Tyrone minds.

Gaining traction, another of these lightning surges from O’Donoghue and Hession created an opening for Aidan O’Shea who, after some excellent handling and the help of a deflection, duly obliged with the opening goal of the evening.

Energised by the score, the big Breaffy man cut loose over the next 10 minutes. Plumbing a vast repertoire, his contributions brought his team into full combative mode. Surprisingly for a side with a reputation for aggression and competitiveness, Tyrone instead were left floundering.

O'Shea's assist for a Conor Loftus score put three points between the teams but the pass that created the opening for James Carr’s goal was one of the evening’s highlights for me. Stuck with the outside of the boot, the ball carried just sufficient weight and accuracy to take the Tyrone defender out of the game – and there’s no better man than Carr at the minute to put the icing on the cake. It was a beautiful score.

Jack Carney pressed home the advantage with another point before the break, leaving Mayo with a healthy six points lead.

PURPLE PATCH

During their second-quarter purple patch a few things were clear. Running angles were varied and unpredictable, and Tyrone had simply no answer in how to deal with them. Handling was of the highest standard and passes executed at speed were invariably controlled.

This year’s emphasis on putting boot to ball grew with the passing minutes and by way of quality, Mayo excelled in this matter. With his size and assured handling skills, O’Shea has excelled in his role of target man over the opening games. At all times there appears to be a player operating close to goal. If O’Shea isn’t there, any one of two or three others will man the area so outfield players usually have the option of the long punt at their disposal.

It is noticeable that oppositions favour double-teaming O’Shea. This has had the knock-on effect of freeing space for others and Mayo have played with greater fluency as a consequence.

Goals were the night’s specialities and with the two strikes after the break, the attendance got full value for their money. Early in the game Enda Hession and Jack Coyne had occasionally looked stretched defensively but Hession’s strike in the third quarter brought the crowd to their feet and sealed the result for Mayo. Playing a one-two with Ryan O’ Donoghue, taking the return and leaving Cormac Monroe floundering, Hession then sold a beautiful solo dummy before having the composure to tuck the ball beyond Niall Morgan and score a goal that would light up any game. Getting it against a team like Tyrone, renowned for their aggression and obdurate defensive play, moves the score higher again in the ranks in my eyes.

That goal put an eight-point ga[ between the teams and finished the game as a contest. From that point to the final whistle the game became increasingly ragged and featureless, and Tyrone at best were only able to offer token resistance.

Even so there were still a few notable moments to celebrate from a Mayo perspective.

Seeing Jason Doherty come off the bench to take on the new centre half-back responsibilities was interesting. Clearly he is being groomed in the requirements demanded.

The dreaded ACL injury sidelined Tommy Conroy for the last 13 months but his late entry to the fray drew one of the biggest cheers on the night. In a nutshell, it’s great to see him back.

But not to be undone, Diarmuid O’Connor gave Mayo supporters one further reason to smile when he crowned a wonderful evening’s performance with a goal of the highest quality. Getting a ball in the deep, he somehow slalomed through a Tyrone team before dispatching a thunderous shot to the roof of the net. It franked a display of energy, honesty and complete unselfishness from the Ballintubber man who, as always, set an example for others to follow.

A 10-point winning margin was no more than Mayo deserved. They played at a different level to Tyrone who, by the final whistle, looked a totally dispirited outfit and one far removed from the team that won the All-Ireland in 2021.

Statistics paint a cold picture that by nature ignore much of a game’s human stories. The raw figure of four goals scored tells us nothing about their creation and execution. Twelve different finishers, converting 14 of their 24 chances, winning 83% of their own restarts and ‘turning over’ their opponents on 18 occasions all look impressive in their own right. Yet, for those in attendance, the figures meant nothing. The beauty in witnessing the deeds is what will remain in their memories.