Another unwanted page in catalogue of Mayo football miseries

by Martin Carney, Mayo GAA's foremost analyst

The portents were good.

Playing on a ground that had been kind to us, reasonable weather, and a team brimming with confidence after the Tyrone win.

From midweek, news that the occasion was an expected sell-out added to the lustre. In a season where the support-base flatlined to a degree, it was encouraging to see the fans cramming Roscommon town from early afternoon.

Alas though, the result we needed didn’t materialise: it wasn’t to be.

In the cruellest fashion Mayo exited the championship by the narrowest margin to a Donegal team that on the day were in all objectivity marginally the better side.

Like everyone there I thought that the equalising point in the final minute by Fergal Boland had done just enough to see his team maintain their interest in this year’s competition.

It was wonderfully executed on the back of a patient build up and really ought to have seen the team over the line. A draw was all that was required to stay alive.

But Donegal’s recalled goalkeeper Shaun Patton had others matters on his mind. In a flash he dispatched the restart down the stand side of the ground where the waiting Ciaran Moore got possession.

The St. Eunan’s clubman saw the opportunity, sensed a lapse in Mayo’s concentration, and hared forward to seal a Donegal win with a fine point.

No doubt about it: sport at its cruellest.

From a Mayo perspective it was a devastating blow; a cruel finale to what had been overall an heroic second half performance.

Put simply, another unwanted page in our catalogue of miseries and near-misses.

Here was a situation where Mayo looked, not for the first time in recent memory, to have rescued a required result from the jaws of defeat.

Knowing that a draw was all that was needed to stay in the championship should have had every player on high alert in those final seconds: means, nefarious or otherwise, ought to have been employed to ensure that nothing further was conceded. It didn’t happen.

As a result, becoming onlookers for the remainder of the championship season became our lot; it is going to be hard to stomach.

From the throw-in and backed with a breeze blowing diagonally towards the graveyard end of the ground, Mayo were slow to settle. In fact, it was Donegal who hit the ground running.

An early brace of points from overlapping corner-back Peadar Mogan had a settling effect on his team. However, by midway through the half Mayo had turned matters around and established a one-point lead.

An impressive Darren McHale notched two while the accurate boot of free-taker Ryan O’Donoghue provided the others. Exchanges were attritional, errors abounded on both sides and turnovers were commonplace.

Mayo in particular struggled in these crucial areas. A key period in determining the outcome occurred in that opening half.

The aforementioned Mogan incurred a black card for a high tackle in the eighth minute and spent the next 10 minutes on the sideline. This should have been a prompt for Mayo to make use of their extra man advantage. It didn’t happen.

A three point return was barely adequate. Though facing the wind, it was Donegal who outscored their opponents and by the half time whistle were full value for their nine points to six advantage.

Much of Mayo’s play in the opening half was blemished by long periods of over-elaboration and indecision and never ending hand passing litanies. Decision-making was frequently flawed.

For some reason there was a general reluctance to take on a shot after an opening was forged. Accusations of being shot-shy weren’t wide of the mark.

In fact, from the time that Ryan O’Donoghue converted a free on 11 minutes, it took another 19 before Mayo added to this: that came by virtue of a fine strike from full-back Donnacha McHugh.

The Mitchels man, a late addition to the team, did much to quieten Michael Murphy, although the big Glenswilly man landed the only two-pointer of the opening half.

Donegal’s three-point interval advantage was no more than they deserved. They looked sharper, more penetrative, quicker and more in tune with each other than their opponents.

In key combative areas Mayo struggled to win possession or get ball forward quickly enough to their inside players. Midfield, at times, didn’t bring the necessary physicality to bear on kickouts, were second best on breaks and looked somewhat porous at the back.

The most damning statistic from the opening period is the fact that the team had just eight attempts at scores and not once in the period, when wind assisted, did they attempt a two pointer. These are not new phenomena.

Regrettably they are issues that have come back to haunt Mayo throughout the championship.

A couple impressed nonetheless. Jack Coyne, for example, from start to finish, gave a fine defensive display and did much to quell the threats of Oisin Gallen and Conor O’Donnell. Colm Reape’s restarts were on a much higher plane than earlier and were generally well judged.

I was one of many at the break who saw little hope of a Mayo resurgence. Such was their sloppiness in the opening half it was hard to see from where an improvement was possible or who could prompt the turnaround.

Donegal, lovers of the fast-transitioning style and managing to execute it, looked set to do as they wanted. Yet, Mayo being Mayo are never likely to conform to stereotype and to their credit were transformed in the second half.

More industrious and energetic, they reduced the margin to the minimum within the opening seven minutes. Over the next 12 minutes they outscored Donegal by 1-3 points to 0-3.

Conal Dawson struck two beauties and Darren McHale added to his earlier score. When David McBrien somehow squeezed the ball to the net with 15 minutes remaining it gave his team the lead for the first time in the game.

Time for Mayo to push on.

It wasn’t to be. Instead, Donegal, and in particular Michael Murphy, sensed the danger and found from within the necessary response.

While Murphy was culpable for the goal by conceding a turnover he more than made amends from there to the finish. From winning some of Patton’s laser-like restarts, to getting himself twice on the scoreboard, he provided leadership of the highest quality that inspired those around him.

Admirable as Mayo were in taking the game down to the final play they missed that vital piece of composure and self-assurance that Murphy provided for his troops. Sure, there was no lack of effort. The workrate through the second half was admirable.

Carney, Flynn, O’Shea, Durcan and Hession were passionate and energetic. Perhaps their cause wasn’t helped with injuries to McHugh, Davitt Neary and Hession. But no one could accuse Mayo of not giving their all and being gallant to the last.

Had a little more clarity of mind remained within tired bodies for that fateful last play we, and not Cavan, would have qualified.