Mayo 2-17; Tyrone 1-13
You have to hand it to Mayo - they are indeed the “great enigma” of Gaelic football.
Not for the first time a Mayo team make the headlines by confounding experts with a display that had no basis on the evidence of their performances so far this year.
Yes, they can be up and down but when they lost to Cavan in Castlebar and then had to travel to Omagh to take on the rapidly improving Tyrone, we all thought that this was the end of the road in their pursuit of Sam for another year.
Then with manager Kevin McStay pulling away due to illness and stand-in boss Stephen Rochford introducing plenty of new and young blood, an away win seemed forlorn to most observers.
What happened? Well, nobody told Mayo, who from the first whistle were the dominant side and ultimately were worthy winners against a home side who were only a pale imitation of the crew which demolished high-riding Donegal in their own backyard the previous weekend.
As always, a team on such a mission needs a slice or two of luck and Mayo got it on the cusp of half-time when Darren McHale was on hand to take advantage of Niall Morgan’s failure to catch a high ball, leaving the visiting forward with the simple task of rolling the ball into the net.
When Tyrone mounted something of a comeback with a few early points on the changeover, another fortuitous moment saw Mayo get a penalty when Ryan O’Donoghue expertly dispatched to keep Mayo well ahead for the run-in to the home strait.
It meant they could withstand something like the Darragh Canavan goal in the 45th minute as Mayo’s confidence was high by that stage and by the final whistle, they were deserving seven-point winners.
Stephen Rochford was a happy man after the game when interviewed on RTE: “We believe that that type of performance is in us. We are frustrated we haven't had that as often as we would like. It's a step in the right direction. But we know we're going to have to be like that and better if we're going to beat a Donegal team in two weeks' time,” he stressed.
Looking to the future, he assessed: “All bets are off now. We've seen over the last two seasons that those final games can go either way. We can't entertain anything but getting some sort of a result against Donegal.”
Tyrone Boss Malachy O'Rourke said his side lacked "freshness" adding: “The boys are really disappointed in there. We knew what Mayo were going to bring after losing the first game. They've a lot of quality players and they were going to be very hungry coming up here. So, we knew we had to meet that. Unfortunately in the first half we didn't get going at all. We didn't seem to have any freshness about us.
“Losing a couple of players, like Brian [Kennedy] around the middle, was a big setback. We struggled on the kickouts at different times in the game. In the second half, in fairness, I thought the boys worked really hard and dug in and got the game back to a point. We had a bit of momentum behind us but again we made a couple of mistakes and Mayo made us pay for them.”
Mayo: C Reape (0-1, ’45); J Coyne, R Brickenden (0-2), S Morahan; S Coen, D McBrien, E Hession; P Durcan (0-3), M Ruane (0-1); J Carney (0-1), D McHale (1-0), B Tuohy (0-1); A O’Shea (0-1), C Dawson (0-1), R O’Donoghue (1-6, 1-0 pen, 0-5f) Subs: J Flynn for Tuohy (51) D Neary for McHale (51), F Kelly for Dawson (54), F Boland for Ruane (63), S Callanan for Durcan (67)
Tyrone: N Morgan (0-4, 2tpf); C Quinn, P Teague, N Devlin; M McKernan (0-1), R Brennan, K McGeary (0-1); B McDonnell (0-1), C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell, M Donnelly (0-1), C Daly; D McCurry (0-2, 0-1f), M Bradley, D Canavan (1-3, 0-2f) Subs: S O’Hare for O’Donnell (h-t), L Gray for Brennan (h-t), P Harte for Bradley (46), R Canavan for Daly (46), A Donaghy for McDonnell (61)
Ref: D Coldrick (Meath).
Derry 2-20; Galway 4-14
This game had virtually everything a GAA fan could ask for, goals, great scores, comebacks and ultimately a late, late score which saw both sides leave Celtic Park with a point each for their endeavors.
Galway manager Pádraic Joyce was disappointed that Conor Doherty got in for that last-minute score but explained that he would have given his right arm for a draw when his side were eight points behind in the second half and laboring to come to terms with the ferocious pace that Derry had set from the throw-in.
What the outcome means was both sides are still alive in this premier football competition knowing that a victory would guarantee them further involvement in the Sam Maguire series.
It was a great day to be at the Derry venue, except for the showers which made the ball feel like a bar of soap on occasions. Yet it is testament to both sets of players that they delivered a spectacle for the ages and no admission fee is too high when teams share six goals and 34 points or 40 scores over the 70 plus minutes.
Up until Doherty’s equalizer, it looked as though Matthew Tierney's goal a minute from the end would confine Derry to the wilderness even before the last round of game were played,
The draw sees both on one point as Derry face Dublin and Galway go head-to-head with All Ireland champions Armagh, both games incidentally at neutral venues.
Derry: B McKinless; D Baker, E McEvoy, P McGurk; C Doherty (0-1), P McGrogan, D Higgins; C Glass (1-3, 0-1 '45), B Rogers (0-3, 1tp); E Doherty, P Cassidy (0-3, 1tp), C McFaul (0-1); S McGuigan (0-4, 1tpf, 1f), N Loughlin (1-2), N Toner (0-1f) Subs: L Murray (0-2) for E Doherty (43); R Forbes for McGurk (56); A Tohill for Loughlin (59); E Doherty for Toner (62).
Galway: C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Mulkerrin, J Glynn; D McHugh, S Kelly (0-1), L Silke; P Conroy (0-1), J Maher (0-1); M Thompson (0-2), C McDaid, S O'Neill (0-1); M Tierney (2-0), R Finnerty (1-3, 0-1f), S Walsh (1-01, 1f) Subs: C Darcy (0-1) for O'Neill (18); D Comer (0-1m) for McDaid (49); P Cooke (0-2, 1tp) for Conroy (49); J Daly for S Walsh (59); K Molloy for McHugh (64); J Heaney for Mulkerrin (66).
Ref: N Cullen (Fermanagh).
Roscommon hurlers Conor Cosgrove and Conor Mulry lift the Nickey Rackard Cup after the final against Mayo at Croke Park. [Inpho/Ben Brady]
GAA RESULTS
All-Ireland SFC Round 2
Armagh 0-24 Dublin 0-19
Monaghan 1-25 Clare 1-16
Derry 2-20 Galway 4-14
Donegal 3-26 Cavan 1-13
Mayo 2-17 Tyrone 1-13
Roscommon 2-15 Meath 0-21
Down 0-25 Louth 0-24
Kerry 1-28 Cork 0-20
Tailteann Cup Round 3
Kildare 4-19 Sligo 1-24
Leitrim 3-9 Tipperary 0-10
Longford 1-20 Carlow 1-15
Fermanagh 0-25 Wexford 1-17
Antrim 1-22 London 1-14
Wicklow 3-29 Waterford 0-21
Laois 3-18 Offaly 3-16
Limerick 0-19 Westmeath 0-18
Christy Ring Cup final
London 1-27 Derry 1-24, Croke Park
Lory Meagher Cup final
New York 4-17 Cavan 2-17 Croke Park
Nickey Rackard Cup final
Roscommon 3-16 Mayo 1-21 Croke Park
All-Ireland U20HC final
Tipperary 3-19 Kilkenny 1-16
GAA FIXTURES
Saturday 7 June
Munster SHC final
Limerick v Cork, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 6pm
Tailteann Cup Preliminary quarter-finals
Saturday June 7
Offaly v New York, O’Connor Park
Sligo v Carlow
Wexford v Antrim
Westmeath v Laois.
(Bye to quarter-finals proper for Wicklow, Kildare, Limerick and Fermanagh).
Sunday 8 June
Leinster SHC final
Kilkenny v Galway, Croke Park, 4pm
Joe McDonagh Cup final
Kildare v Laois, Croke Park, 1.45pm
