Mayo 1-8
Roscommon 0-5
Sunday evening in Hyde Park, Ray Dempsey's Mayo minors made it three out of three for the county in the Connacht championship with a six point win over their hosts. Following on from last weekend's drawn game, Mayo upped their game significantly from Pearse Stadium with a number of players putting in performances worthy of claiming the man of the match award. Aidan Walsh's last minute point in Galway gave Mayo a second chance and Walsh played the captains role against Roscommon pulling the strings from his midfield berth, and it was his quick thinking that set up the only goal of the game which swung the contest in Mayo's favor. With the game level at four points a piece just after the half time break, Walsh took a quick free from inside his own half which he aimed towards the ever dangerous Cillian O'Connor. The Ballintubber man showed quick thinking to pass the ball into the path of the on coming Danny Kirby, who looked to have lost the ball on the bounce as he broke in to the Roscommon penalty area at pace. But he showed his composure to drive the ball to the back of the net past Nass Connaughton off the deck. That put Mayo into a three point lead a lead which they never relinquished for the rest of the contest as they showed pleanty of composure on the ball to have them in good stead ahead of their quarter final match up with defeated Munster finalists, Tipperary.
The drawn game between these sides, was one that will not live long in the memory of people for the quality of football displayed by either side and the first half of this replay didn't set the world alight either, Roscommon opened the scoring inside the first minute, but went another 26 minutes before they managed to score again, while in that period Mayo hit the target three times to go into a deserved 0-3 to 0-1 lead after 23 minutes. Cathal Shine opened the scoring in the contest with a well struck free from 35m out. Mayo should have had the ball in the back of the net three minutes later, when Darren Coen played a defense splitting pass into his captain Aidan Walsh who found himself unmarked eight yards out. Instead of catching the ball and driving it to the net, Walsh decided to try and flick the ball to the back of the net, but could only put it past the wrong side of the post. Fergal Durkin had another goal chance for Mayo two minutes later but was unable to direct the ball to the net, but Mayo were able to recover and Andrew Farrell pointed the ball after being set up by Ciaran Charlton after Mayo cut out Rosscommon's attempt to clear the ball.
Cillian O'Connor landed his first point from a personal haul of five for the evening from a free 21 yards out to put Mayo into the lead for the first time on eleven minutes as both sides were still feeling each other out.
Mayo's midfield which failed to ignite in any meaningful way in the drawn game, were far more effective in the replay with club-mates Danny Kirby and Walsh putting in a good hours work, and Mayo's wing forwards and wing backs picking up a lot of breaking ball, with Fergal Durkin getting his hands on a lot of ball throughout the contest. Darren Coen had Mayo's third goal chance of the first half when a long ball into the danger area broke off Alex Corduff, but Coen couldn't connect properly with the size five and it skewed wide pas the post. The ever industrious Andrew Farrell was hauled to the ground after 23 minutes on the 21 yard line and O'Connor did the necessary to point the dead ball to give Mayo a two point lead with seven minutes to go in the third act of this four part play.
The home side though were not in any mood to throw in the towel just yet and Ciaran Murtagh and Niall Kilroy both landed minor scores before the break to send both sides in on level terms at the turn around. Mayo had introduced Ian Costello for Brian Ruttledge before the break, made their second change of the game in the dressing room at half time with Jack McDonnell coming on to replace Darren Coen. Straight from the off in the terminal half O'Connor landed a free from out on the left from an acute angle to give Mayo back the lead. This lead however only lasted a couple of minutes, Jack Carthy hit a great score from out on the left wing with a shot off the outside of the right boot that bend back inside the far post at just the right time for the home side. However Mayo's response was emphatic and decisive when Kirby's three pointer put Mayo in charge. Roscommon did get the next score of the game thanks to a free from Daniel Qualter, but it was the last score they were to register as Mayo took the game by the scruff of the neck and went on to finish off the Roscommon challenge in the final 21 minutes of the game. O'Connor hit two points in a row for Mayo, one from a free tight out to the left hand sideline the other a great score from play when he picked up a long ball from Aidan Walsh and held off his man to cut inside to make a good angle to bisect the target. Andrew Farrell got his second score of the game from play when Roscommon lost the ball as they tried to clear their lines and the Killala man powered the ball over the bar to give Mayo a 1-7 to 0-5 lead with ten minutes left in the contest. Farrell rounded off the scoring when Cillian O'Connor's half block fell into his path and he he clipped it over the bar from distance. The only blot on Mayo's copy book came when Ciaran Charlton was shown the line after picking up his second yellow card with two minutes to go, but the damage had been done by Mayo at that stage and the full time whistle came shortly after to see Mayo retain the title they won by seeing off the same opposition last year.
Mayo: M Slingermann; D Geraghty, D Gavin, M Walsh; C Charlton, S McDermott, K Rodgers; D Kirby (1-0 ), A Walsh; D Coen, A Farrell (0-3 ), F Durkin; B Ruttledge, C O'Connor (0-5,4f ), A Corduff. Subs: I Costello for B Ruttledge (16 mins ), J McDonnell for D Coen (30 mins ), J Carney for I Costello (61 mins )
Roscommon: N Connaughton; P Brogan, D Butler, P Feeney; D Connellan, N Daly, C Cafferkey; C Shine (0-1 1f ), S McNulty; J Carty (0-1 ), B Carthy, D Clabby; N Kilroy (0-1 ), D Qualter (0-1, 1f ), C Murtagh (0-1 ). Subs: S Leydon for D Clabby; C Compton for C Murtagh (39 mins ), S Oates for B Carthy (43 mins ), K Donoghue for J Carthy (52 mins ), G Deeney for C Cafferkey (60 mins )
Referee: M Duffy (Sligo )
