Mayo SFC: Late Jordan Flynn point seals last eight spot for Crossmolina
by Aiden Henry
Crossmolina had to rely on a late Jordan Flynn point to secure a draw with Mayo Gaels in this final Group 3 Mayo SFV game at Fr O’Hara Memorial Park, Charlestown, the result being 0-16 to 2-10.
With Kobe McDonald lining out for Crossmolina in his first Gaelic football game since the All-Ireland final, this clash attracted a huge crowd.
While the star forward did manage to produce some flashes of brilliance, the blustery wind and driving rain made it difficult for him and indeed, all the players on both sides to deal with the slippery underfoot conditions.
Nevertheless, the large crowd were treated to an exciting and entertaining encounter which right down to the wire.
With Aghamore defeating Ballintubber in the other game in this group, it means Crossmolina advance to the quarterfinals as the group runners-up.
For Mayo Gaels the draw means they finish bottom of the table and will be involved in the relegation playoffs, meeting Balla in the semi-final.
Within 30 seconds of John Gallagher putting Mayo Gaels in front, the Kobe magic came to the fore after he landed a great point from play in the third minute.
However, those who felt this was going to be an easy assignment for Crossmolina didn’t have to wait long to think otherwise as after Mayo Gaels Gallagher followed up his opening score with a great two-pointer from a free, the south Mayo side struck for a great goal from David Quinn to make it 1-3 to 0-2 after eight minutes.
That early Mayo Gaels four-point advantage seemed to wake up Crossmolina as for the remainder of the half they were the ones putting the scores on the scoreboard.
Indeed, Mayo Gaels would only add two points to their tally for the remainder of the half while Crossmolina would add nine points to their tally, which included a fine two-pointer from Cathal Carolan.
This left them leading by three at the interval, 0-11 to 1-5.
In the early minutes of the second half Mayo Gaels' Andrew Quinn from play and Kobe McDonald, a ’45, exchanged points before Quinn fired a great second goal for Mayo Gaels in the 37th minute to level matters.
This was a second wake-up call for the north Mayo side as they upped the tempo and bombarded the Mayo Gaels goal area with shot after shot.
However, they found the Mayo Gaels goalkeeper Paul Mannion unbeatable as time and time again he denied several of the Crossmolina forwards goals by bringing off magnificent saves.
As a result, the umpires at both ends were not over-worked.
Indeed, right up to the 60th minute both sides only managed to add three points each to their tally to leave the game deadlocked as the encounter went into injury time.
It looked as if Mayo Gaels were poised for a shock win when Adam Gallagher put them a point in front a minute into stoppage time.
However, it was another Mayo star, Jordan Flynn, who would have the final say by firing over the equalising point in the last play of the game which was enough to see them make the last eight of the championship.