Although Mayo started in a bustle of energy, scored two early points and demonstrated intent in Ryan O'Donoghue's hustling of Michael McKernan over the end-line for a 45 in the second minute, Tyrone absorbed the pressure and slowly asserted control of the All-Ireland final.
It was a methodical, unflustered performance by the Ulster champions. Darren McCurry’s free in the 10th minute edged them ahead, 0-3 to 0-2, and they never trailed again - and led for all but seven minutes of the remainder of the match.
For a match that was by consensus seen as very evenly balanced the trend told a different story. Tyrone stretched their lead in every quarter. They had greater composure on the ball and without it.
Mayo had possession and won the battle of the restarts - as did Kerry in the semi-final - but they struggled to execute what chances they created. In fact they did at times what former captain Andy Moran had warned about, running the ball at the Tyrone defence and into trouble.
Aidan O’Shea saw a good bit of ball but often didn’t have the option of support attackers running off him and was fairly quickly shut down and rendered ineffective. The great Mayo conundrum of how best to deploy him isn’t getting any easier to solve.
Defence was one of the obvious advantages that Tyrone had. Their deep defending made Mayo’s runs treacherous undertakings and they had the calm judgement to play out from the back.
Mayo had nearly the same number of turnovers and some smart tackling and dispossessions - Pádraig O’Hora’s hand in on Mattie Donnelly 10 minutes into the second half for instance - but they had nothing like the same intensity on the ball.
Tyrone’s tackle count dwarfed their opponent’s - by more than two to one or according to Sky Sports statistics three to one.
Once again Mayo lost a final by an amount measurable in goals conceded
There was also an advantage in the forwards. It emerged in a number of ways. For a start Tyrone were more inclined to vary their game with early, medium- or long-range ball to catch Mayo on the turn.
Peter Harte took a brilliant mark in the 64th minute for a simple score, as did Conor McKenna earlier but for someone uniquely built to catch high deliveries, after his sojourn in the AFL, he was at odds with his shooting this time, sending three wide, including the mark.
As expected they also had serious reinforcements off the bench, scoring 1-1, compared to Mayo’s nothing from their subs. Cathal McShane is probably an artificial replacement in that he has been making his way back from long-term injury but like in the semi-final when he took Kerry for 1-3, he struck again for the second goal.
It was a brilliant delivery from Conor Meyler on the left. McShane shuffled around expertly in the 46th minute to lose Oisín Mullin momentarily and guide the ball to the net with a deft touch.
The goal was invaluable. Up until that point Tyrone hadn’t scored in the second half and had seen their two-point interval lead halved. The goal sent the margin to four and ratcheted up the pressure on Mayo to respond, presumably also reviving bad memories of the concession of goals in finals past.
Response
To their credit, Mayo did respond with points from O’Donoghue and Kevin McLoughlin but how many times have we seen the county stung into responses to things that have gone badly in finals - as opposed to getting their retaliation in first and forcing the opposition to chase them.
Old failings in front of goal also haunted them with four clear chances coming to nothing, including O’Donoghue’s penalty, which hit the side of the right-hand post. Aidan O’Shea was blocked down by Ronan McNamee to end another and earlier Niall Sludden got back to take Conor Loftus’s shot off the line.
Tyrone also missed chances but crucially they scored two and once again Mayo lost a final by an amount measurable in goals conceded - even the final score was exactly the same as that by which Dublin beat them last December.
On paper, the Connacht champions had a decent edge at centrefield. Matthew Ruane had been having a fine year whereas the Tyrone pair of Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick had struggled in the semi-final against Kerry and especially, David Moran.
This time around they out-performed expectations, evidenced in one glorious catch by Kilpatrick to start the clock on Darren McCurry’s goal.
Once again, Mayo kicked two points in response but we were by now in the last 10 minutes and the match was drifting.
Tyrone’s response was impressive. They tightened the focus and began to manage the scoreboard more deliberately. Possession near goal was fisted over the bar to push out the margin and they comfortably out-scored the chasing opposition, 0-4 to 0-2 in the last 10 minutes.
Finally, a word for goalkeeper Niall Morgan, who had an uneasy start to the match, getting pinged for fouling a restart. He quickly regained composure and played a constructive role as a seventh defender, taking charge of movement from the back. He also had a flawless day off the tee, converting two frees and a 45.
It was a vindication for a player who has had his ups and downs but delivered on the biggest day of all.
