Gaelic Games

O’Donoghue and McHugh strike in the second half to send Mayo past Roscommon

Kevin McStay’s men always had the upper hand but they had to keep a late Roscommon rally at bay

Aidan O’Shea of Mayo in action against Roscommon. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho
Aidan O’Shea of Mayo in action against Roscommon. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho
Ian Cooney
Sat Jun 01 2024 - 20:26
Mayo 2-14 Roscommon 1-15

Second half goals from Ryan O’Donoghue and Donnacha McHugh put Mayo on the road to victory in the Dr Hyde Park sunshine.

In front of 8,597 spectators, Kevin McStay’s men always held the upper hand but they had to keep a late Roscommon rally at bay to prevail against their western neighbours for the third time this season.

While Mayo lost Fergal Boland to a red card, an injury to Enda Smith won’t have helped Roscommon’s mood ahead of their crunch game against Cavan in two weeks’ time.

The sides were level seven times during the opening 35 minutes, but Mayo missed a hatful of chances, including Darren McHale blasting wide with the goal at his mercy.

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The first four points were shared — Donie Smith and Diarmuid Murtagh (free) on target for the Rossies, while Darren McHale and Matthew Ruane split the posts for Mayo.

However, rapid fire scores from Conor Cox (free) and Robbie Dolan edged Roscommon two points ahead, but player of the match Eoghan McLaughlin and Ryan O’Donoghue (free) brought the sides level, 0-4 apiece, by the end of the third quarter.

A superb individual score by Enda Smith edged the Rossies back in front before McLaughlin found a huge hole through the middle of the home side’s defence to bring the sides level once more.

Daire Cregg hit one of the points of the half before Jordan Flynn restored parity.

A 28th minute free from Ryan O’Donoghue put Mayo ahead for the first time but Ciarán Lennon became Roscommon’s seventh scorer of the half to tie the contest at 0-7 apiece.

Mayo’s manager Kevin McStay. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Mayo’s manager Kevin McStay. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho

There was still time for O’Donoghue and Cox (free) to swap scores to leave the sides deadlocked at 0-8 each, but the wise money was on Mayo with wind advantage to come.

For most of that second half, they justified their favouritism as Cillian O’Connor, from over 45 metres, McHale and O’Donoghue pushed Mayo 0-12 to 0-10 after 50 minutes.

Roscommon were struggling to get possession into their forwards, and had to rely on placed balls from Diarmuid Murtagh, Conor Carroll, from a ‘45, and Conor Cox for their scores.

Mayo were patient before finding the pass to open up the Roscommon defence, and Flynn’s second score of the game was followed by the game’s pivotal moment on the hour mark.

Mayo moved the ball swiftly to O’Donoghue who was fouled in the eyes of referee Barry Cassidy, although Roscommon argued that the Mayo forward had taken too many steps.

Up stepped O’Donoghue to confidently stroke home the penalty and hand his side a 1-12 to 0-11 lead.

Substitute Keith Doyle hit Roscommon’s first point from play of the half but when defender Donnacha McHugh fastened himself to another swift Mayo move, a 2-13 to 0-13 lead looked unassailable with two minutes remaining.

But Roscommon rallied and when substitute Dylan Ruane was upended, Conor Cox raised a green flag from a confidently taken penalty.

Lively substitute Tommy Conroy gave Mayo some breathing space, before late points from Donie Smith and Ultan Harney pared the margin back to two points.

But Roscommon had left themselves with too much to do as Mayo backed up their opening round victory against Cavan to guarantee progression from the group.

Mayo: C Reape; D McBrien, P O’Hora, S Callinan; S Coen, J Coyne, D McHugh (1-0); J Carney, M Ruane (0-1); E McLaughlin (0-3), R O’Donoghue (1-4, one penalty, two frees), J Flynn (0-2); D McHale (0-2), A O’Shea, C O’Connor (0-1).

Subs: C Loftus for McBrien (h-t), T Conroy (0-1) for O’Connor (53 mins), F Boland for O’Shea (62), E Hession for McHale (68), B Tuohy for McLoughlin (70).

Roscommon: C Carroll (0-1, 45); D Murray, B Stack, N Higgins; N Daly, R Dolan (0-1), E McCormack; E Smith (0-1), T O’Rourke; C Hand, D Smith (0-2), C Lennon (0-1); C Cox (1-4, 1-0 penalty, three frees, one mark), D Cregg (0-1), D Murtagh (0-2, two frees).

Subs: K Doyle (0-1) for Hand (h-t), D Ruane for Lennon (44 mins), U Harney (0-1) for O’Rourke (53), R Fallon for Daly (53), S Cunnane for Dolan (63).

Referee: B Cassidy (Derry).