NFL Division One: Mayo 1-12 Dublin 0-14
Mayo had to be a little sheepish enough after this one. They made it two wins from two to start the league but this was a game in which they only led for a total of around six minutes altogether. A Fergal Boland point deep into injury-time was enough to leave Dublin with their pockets turned inside out, stunned to have lost a game they had dominated.
For the second week in a row, Dessie Farrell’s side had the ball in stoppage time with the game level and somehow contrived to lose the game. Whereas Monaghan hit them on the break last Saturday night in Croke Park, it was the quick thinking of Mayo corner-forward Ryan O’Donoghue that did for them here. A crossfield pass from a late free – when everyone was waiting on him to shoot – was enough to find Boland, who did the rest with aplomb.
“Delighted with the two points, I can tell you that anyway,” said Kevin McStay afterwards. “I’d have taken one, on the second-last attack. The two points are really valuable to us. That’s four – if we get another two now somewhere in February, we’d feel like we were in a position where we could think about what’s ahead of us.
“I’m really pleased with the last free. I love that, a guy who’s clued in. He knows he was never going to get it from that position and he backed himself to make the pass. And of course Fergal curls it over – that was a bonus point for us. That was great, very pleased.
“We got off to a bad start. Not what we expected. We prepped well for it, we were trying things that didn’t happen. But we stayed at it, right to the very end. We showed enough courage to win it. But yeah, probably a draw would have been fair enough.”
Talk about a change in fortunes. Dublin came in here with a laughably dominant record for a visiting team. They hadn’t lost in Castlebar since 2012. Not alone that, their average margin of victory was over six points a game. The place couldn’t feel more like home for the Dubs if there’d been coddle in the dressingroom and porter on tap for €7.50 a pint.
For much of the opening quarter, Mayo’s felicitousness continued to know no bounds. They sat deep and passive, like they were waiting on early mass. Dublin took full advantage, with Jack McCaffrey (two), Con O’Callaghan and Cormac Costello filling their boots and pushing Dublin out to a 0-6 to 0-2 lead after 20 minutes.
Mayo were like a horse that had missed the tapes going up – they badly needed a shake of the reins to remind them of their business. It came from Paddy Durcan, who went on a to-hell-with-this run after 22 minutes to start a move that eventually saw O’Donoghue pop over a free. Paul Towey and Bob Tuohy rattled off quick points too and soon enough they were level and 0-6 apiece. It had basically taken Mayo six minutes of thrash metal to blow off the cobwebs.
Dublin came back at them with smart points from Greg McEneaney and Seán Bugler, both of them kicked against the grain, right-footed from the right-hand side of the posts. Mayo replied with two more from O’Donoghue, the first a spectacular effort from play, the second a well-taken free after O’Shea had been fouled inside. It meant the teams went to the break on par, 0-8 to 0-8.
But three quick points after the restart gave Dublin the upper hand again. Mayo’s ball-handling was sloppy all of a sudden, their passing into the full-forward line slow and ponderous. O’Donoghue sniped one back with a free he earned himself but when Aidan O’Shea blazed one wide immediately after, it was starting to feel like one of those nights.
Salvation fell from the sky. A Jordan Flynn fell short, allowing Stephen Coen to nip in and tip home his first ever goal for Mayo. Out of nowhere, McStay’s side had their first lead of the night, 1-9 to 0-11.
From there to the end, there was never more than a point in it. Cian Murphy finished off a long spell of Dublin possession with a casually stroked point on the hour mark. Con O’Callaghan whipped in off the left wing with an elegant effort of his own. But O’Donoghue wouldn’t be denied and while his frees kept it level heading into the death minutes, it was the free he didn’t shoot that ultimately sent Boland away to ruin Dublin’s night.
“I think we are definitely a little bit behind,” said Dessie Farrell afterwards. “There is no question about that. It is nothing that we will get overly concerned about. We want to be as competitive as we can in the league but we are always looking towards the summer and what that brings us. We have been in Division Two and it worked out well for us. Not going to put a gun to our own heads in terms of Division One status being crucial or paramount to us.
“It is definitely something we would like to attain and achieve but as I say this is all about giving younger players experience, trying to unearth one or two, trying out some different things tactically. And then getting senior lads who have had time off up to speed in the league. The championship comes very quickly.”
Dublin: David O’Hanlon (0-1); Theo Clancy, Seán McMahon, Lee Gannon; Greg McEneaney (0-1), Cian Murphy (0-1), Jack McCaffrey (0-2); Brian Fenton (0-1), Seán Bugler (0-1); Ross McGarry, Con O’Callaghan (0-2), Ciarán Kilkenny; Paddy Small (0-1, free), Colm Basquel, Cormac Costello (0-4, three frees). Subs: John Small for McCaffrey, 51 mins; Niall Scully for McGarry, 54 mins; Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne for Basquel, 59 mins; Lorcan O’Dell for Costello, 66 mins; Killian O’Gara for P Small, 69 mins
Mayo: Colm Reape (0-1, free); Jack Coyne, Rory Brickenden, Sam Callinan; Paddy Durcan, David McBrien, Eoghan McLaughlin; Jordan Flynn, Jack Carney (0-1); Conor Reid, Fergal Boland (0-1), Bob Tuohy (0-1); Aidan O’Shea, Paul Towey (0-1), Ryan O’Donoghue (0-7, six frees). Subs: Donnacha McHugh for Reid, 10 mins; Stephen Coen (1-0) for McLaughlin, 33 mins; Tommy Conroy for Towey, 49 mins; Cillian O’Connor for O’Shea, 59 mins; Diarmuid Duffy for Tuohy, 64 mins
Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford)
