Mayo no match for stronger Monaghan side
Aiden Henry
Mayo’s interest in the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor football championship came to an end in Carrick-on-Shannon this afternoon when they were beaten 1-15 to 1-8 by Monaghan at the quarterfinal stage.
There could be no excuses for Sean Deane’s charges as they were beaten by a better team on the day.
Indeed, Monaghan – who lost the Ulster final to Derry on penalties – gave enough evidence with this showing to suggest they could go all the way and win the All-Ireland title.
Monaghan were much stronger and more physical than Mayo. They also had plenty of ball skills and players who knew where the posts were when scores were there for the taking.
In fairness to Mayo, they never gave up and battled all the way to the bitter end. They can have few complaints about the final result, however.
For most of the opening half Mayo gave as good as they got and they opened the scoring with a Thomas Lydon free. Although Monaghan hit back with two points, Mayo were back in front by the eighth minute when full-forward Josh Carey found the Monaghan net after he received an inch-perfect pass from corner back Yousif Coghill, who had carried the ball up half the length of the field. A minute later they had increased their advantage to three points after a fine score from the hard working Darragh Beirne.
Although Mayo would add another point moments later – a delightful effort from Colm Lynch – they would go 18 minutes before scoring again. By that time Monaghan had stamped their authority on the game with an unanswered 1-6, with the likes of Tommy Mallen, Max McGinnity and Matthew Finn causing Mayo all sorts of trouble.
While Darragh Beirne did stop the rot with a late first-half point, Mayo still had it all to do on the resumption as they trailed by five, 1-9 to 1-4.
It didn’t get any better after the interval for Mayo as Monaghan continued to play the better football and create many scoring chances.
Yet Mayo kept battling away and while Thomas Lydon, Dara Neary, Colm Lynch and Darragh Beirne all raised white flags, they could get through for the badly-needed second goal to get them back into contention.
In the end Monaghan – who added six more points to their tally in the second half – ran out convincing winners to book a place in the All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry.
Mayo: C. Meaney; J. Lavelle, E. McGreal, Y. Coghill; J. Clarke, R. Mortimer, F. O’Reilly; T. Egan, S. Cunningham; C. Lynch (0-2), T. Lydon (0-2), G. Forry; D. Beirne (0-3), J. Carey (1-0), S. Guilfoyle.
Subs used: T. Tuffy, D. Neary (0-1), S. Walsh, F. Burke, C. Ryder.
Monaghan: J. Mooney; S. Óg McElwain (0-2), C. Greenan, C. Meehan; A. Stuart, T. Mallen (0-3), J. Lynch; M. Carolan, C. Murphy; D. Connolly, M. McGinnity (0-5), C. Jones (1-0); T. Quinn, M. Finn (0-4), L. McKenna.
Subs used: S. O’Connell (0-1), M. McGinnity, E. McCaffrey, J. Wright, M. Maguire, C. Clerkin.
Referee: E. McFeely (Donegal).