Mayo 1-12; Dublin 0-14
You’d almost think Mayo had won the All Ireland the way the 15,000 crowd in MacHale Park greeted the final whistle on Saturday evening after the local team had scored a late point to snatch victory from the visitors who normally are the nemesis of green above the red teams.
Huge cheering and a pitch invasion made it look like there was silverware at stake when in fact it was only the second round of the National Football League. This signaled Mayo’s second win on the trot in this series while Dublin were suffering their second last minute reverse in a row.
More importantly for the home supporters, though, was the fact that this was their side’s first victory in 12 years in Castlebar. The win was fashioned by quick thinking on behalf of Ryan O’Donoghue who had an acute free from his own right side to kick.
Instead of taking his chance, he calculated the percentage and noted that Fergal Boland was free and the Dublin defense was momentarily asleep. His pass from the free gave the latter time and space to slot over the winning score from in front of the posts - a score that was at the root of the wild celebrations which followed.
Dublin manager Dessie Farrell is unlikely to panic after two reversals as his side were on top overall and he still is blooding a number of youngsters while the only goal of the game would not have happened had the ageless Stephen Cluxton been present between the sticks.
That score, 18 mins from time, came at a crucial time and was of the fortunate variety as Jordan Flynn’s shot with the intent of raising a white flag. Instead the ball dropped into the square and sub Stephen Coen motored in to connect and flash it into the back of the net, out jumping David O’Hanlon, who will feel he should have commanded his area better than he did.
That goal put Mayo ahead and with Dublin failing to score for the last 12 mins, the home side finished the stronger and for once showed the cleverness to win a tight game against the Metropolitans.
The sides had been level at the half-time whistle at 0-8 apiece but once Dublin established an early three-point second half lead through goalkeeper O’Hanlon (free), Paddy Small (free) and Cormac Costello, it looked like they might kick on for victory.
Mayo fought back to lead again but once Cian Murphy and Con O’Callaghan finished off two good team moves to push the Leinster men ahead, again the game looked to be there for the taking with eight minutes left on the clock.
O’Donoghue did his bit as well by landing his seventh point of the evening to set up a winner-takes-all score in the remaining minutes. Indeed, both sides were wayward with winning chances before O’Donoghue’s quick thinking opened the gate for the winning score.
Mayo will have their mettle truly tested when they travel to Kerry the weekend after next while Dublin’s home game against Roscommon is now of the must-win variety.
Mayo: C Reape (0-1, '45); J Coyne, R Brickenden, S Callinan; P Durcan, D McBrien, E McLaughlin; J Flynn, J Carney (0-1); B Tuohy (0-1), F Boland (0-1), C Reid; A O'Shea, P Towey (0-1), R O’Donoghue (0-7, 0-6fs) Subs: D McHugh for Reid (10); S Coen (1-0) for McLaughlin (30); T Conroy for Towey (48); C O’Connor for O’Shea (57); D Duffy for Tuohy (64);
Dublin: D O’Hanlon (0-f); T Clancy, S McMahon, L Gannon; G McEneaney, C Murphy (0-1), J McCaffrey (0-2); B Fenton (0-1), S Bugler (0-2); R McGarry, C Basquel, C Kilkenny; P Small (0-1f), C O’Callaghan (0-2), C Costello (0-4, 0-3fs) Subs: J Small for McCaffrey (50); N Scully for McGarry (53); P Ó Cofaigh Byrne for Basquel (57); L O’Dell for Costello (65); K O’Gara for P Small (69);
Ref: F Kelly (Longford).
Kerry 3-15 Monaghan 1-12
Any notions Monaghan had of becoming overnight world beaters after shocking Dublin in Croke Park last week were well and truly knocked on the head by Kerry, who made up for their narrow home loss to Derry last week with a nine-point winning margin in Clones on Sunday.
The big difference in the Kerry performance was this time around they had the Clifford brothers to call on - and when they came on for the second half, their movement and their 1-2 between them was too much for the Farney men to handle.
Tadhg Morley was also sprung at that stage and he tightened up the defense to make it even harder for the young forward squad to penetrate.
In fairness Monaghan did very well against the breeze in the first half and tried to match Kerry stride for stride on the changeover until goals by David Clifford and Diarmuid O’Connor knocked the stuffing out of their challenge. They were also unlucky to come up against Sean O’Shea on a day when he was on fire, scoring five of his seven points from play.
Kerry Manager Jack O’Connor will be much happier overall with the team performance, particularly the players ability to pick off scores while aside from Ryan O’Toole palmed goal in the first half, they were rock solid at the back.
Both teams will have two weeks to recover before The Kingdom welcome high-flying Mayo the weekend after next while Monaghan must man up away to Mickey Harte’s Derry, who were way too strong for Tyrone on Sunday and ended up winning by 1-12 to 0-8.
Kerry: S Ryan; G O’Sullivan, J Foley (0-1), D Casey (0-1); T O’Sullivan (0-2), P Murphy, G White; D O’Connor (1-0), J O’Connor; R Buckley, D Geaney, C Burke (1-0); C Geaney (0-1), S O’Shea (0-7, 0- 2f), D Moynihan (0-1) Subs: D Clifford (1-1) for Buckley (32); P Clifford (Capt., 0-1) for C Geaney (H-T); T Morley for G O’Sullivan (inj., 48); A Spillane for D Geaney (55); B O’Sullivan for Moynihan (61); S O’Brien for Casey (inj., 66).
Monaghan: D McDonnell; R Wylie, KLavelle, R O'Toole (1-0); K Sheridan, K Duffy (Capt., 0-1m), K Loughran; J Wilson, G Mohan (0-1); C McNulty (0-1), S O’Hanlon (0-1), M Hamill (0-1); D Garland, J McCarron (0-3, 0-1m), J Irwin (0-1) Subs: S Mooney (0-2, 0-1m) for Garland (H-T); M McCarville (0-1) for Wilson (43); A Woods for Irwin (52); K O’Connell for Sheridan (55); B Walker for Loughran (70).
Ref: S Hurson (Tyrone).
GAA RESULTS
NFL
Div 1
Derry 1-12 Tyrone 0-9
Mayo 1-12 Dublin 0-14
Kerry 3-15 Monaghan 1-12
Mayo 1-12 Dublin 0-14
Roscommon 0-9 Galway 0-9
Div 2
Donegal 0-13 Cavan 0-12
Louth 2-9 Cork 0-13
Fermanagh 2-10 Kildare 0-12
Armagh 2-16 Meath 0-10
Div 3
Down 3-16 Limerick 0-9
Antrim 2-5 Offaly 1-7
Sligo 2-10 Wicklow 1-11
Westmeath 1-11 Clare 0-13
Div 4
Laois 1-19 Wexford 0-12
Carlow 1-17 Waterford 0-9
Laois 1-19 Wexford 0-12
Carlow 1-17 Waterford 0-9
NHL
Div 1A
Clare 1-25 Cork 2-19
Kilkenny 2-16 Wexford 2-16
Waterford 3-20 Offaly 0-17
Div 1B
Tipperary 2-27 Dublin 0-22
Galway 4-31 Westmeath 0-12
Limerick 1-36 Antrim 1-9
