Leitrim make Mayo pull out all the stops

Mayo opened their Electric Ireland Connacht Minor (Under 17) Football Championship campaign with a narrow 1-17 to 2-11 victory over Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon on Friday evening.

In the end the scoreboard showed Mayo the winners by three points, but this did not tell the full story of what was a topsy-turvy game.

Playing with the aid of the wind, Mayo started in brilliant fashion. After just 12 minutes the had built up an 11-point lead and looked as if they were going to blow the home side away.

But then Leitrim began to play and all of a sudden, it was the Mayo defence who had to start soaking up a lot of pressure.

When half-time arrived, the Mayo lead was down to seven points after they were outscored by five to one in the last 18 minutes of the half.

Indeed, Leitrim could and should have been closer as they missed two great goal chances.

Although Mayo scored three points in the opening eight minutes of the second half, their lead had been cut to four as down at the other end of the field, Leitrim raised green, orange and white flags.

A big shock looked to be on the cards at this stage as it was evident that Leitrim were growing in confidence with every minute that passed.

However, Mayo regrouped and scored three unanswered points, one from Darragh Connor and two from half-time substitute,Nathan Dooley (bringing his total to three), which pushed their lead out to seven points again with just 12 minutes remaining.

Once again Leitrim refused to throw in the towel and after they scored a second goal to close the gap to three, they had one final effort in the dying seconds to level matters. However, Senan Kelly’s shot went the wrong side of the post.

Although this was the second round of games, it was Mayo’s first as they had a bye in round one. We can be sure they will come on in leaps and bounds from this outing.

Mayo’s outstanding player in this encounter was midfielder Conor Hoban. While he ended with five points to his name, it was his magnificent high fielding that was the highlight of this championship tie.

*See Tuesday's print edition for a full report