Mayo 2-13
Donegal 0-11
Fintan O’Toole reports from Croke Park
MAYO POWERED PAST Donegal for the second time in three years at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage tonight in Croke Park.
Since losing the 2012 final to their Ulster opponents, Mayo have reversed the trend and the Connacht champions were too strong in this encounter.
Victory propels them into a clash with Dublin on 30 August at the semi-final stage and it is the fifth consecutive year that they are involved in the last four of the All-Ireland series.
Mayo’s two goals shaped the course and outcome of this game. The opening one provided the perfect tonic before the break when it arrived in injury-time in the first-half.
Aidan O’Shea illustrated his threat at full-forward as he fielded a delivery over Neil McGee, shook off Mark McHugh and buried the ball low past Paul Durcan to the net.
That pushed Mayo into a four-point lead at the interval and life improved further straight after the restart.
Lee Keegan was sent clear by Cillian O’Connor and while his shot off his left may have been a point attempt, it dipped perfectly past Durcan and the ball nestled in the corner of the net.
They were two killer blows for Donegal to suffer and they never recovered thereafter. The closest they managed to cut the gap to in the second-half was six points but it was beyond them to overhaul that level of a deficit.
The teams looked evenly-matched in the first-half when they were locked together at 0-4 apiece with Keegan and Michael Murphy kicking some superb points for their respective teams.
Mayo made a burst as they hit three points on the spin courtesy of Cillian O’Connor, Jason Doherty and Kevin McLoughlin to leave them 0-7 to 0-4 clear by the 31st minute.
A pair of Murphy converted frees dragged Donegal back into contention before they were floored by O’Shea’s goal.
The Keegan strike was another hammer blow for Donegal to suffer early in the second-half and then defensive lynchpin Neil McGee limped off with an injury. With a half hour remaining, there was ample evidence that this was not to be their night.
They tried to best to break Mayo open but Barry Moran helped Ger Cafferkey cover the space available to danger man Michael Murphy as they nullified his threat.
At times Mayo looked like they could storm clear by a huge margin on the scoreboard but after leading 2-10 to 0-8 in the 46th minute, they only scored one point in the next 20 minutes as they were wasteful in front of goal and dropped too many shots short into the hands of Paul Durcan.
Donegal trailed by 2-11 to 0-11 with four minutes remaining but any lingering hopes of a dramatic comeback were ended as substitute Alan Freeman and Doherty kicked the points that assured Mayo fans they have a semi-final to look forward to.
Scorers for Mayo: Lee Keegan 1-2, Aidan O’Shea 1-0, Cillian O’Connor (0-2f), Jason Doherty 0-3 each, Kevin McLoughlin 0-2, Keith Higgins, Alan Freeman, Andy Moran 0-1 each.
Scorers for Donegal: Michael Murphy 0-8 (0-5f, 0-1 ’45), Anthony Thompson, Christy Toye, Leo McLoone 0-1 each.
Mayo
1. David Clarke (Ballina Stephenites)
2. Ger Cafferkey (Ballina Stephenites)
3. Donal Vaughan (Ballinrobe)
4. Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis – Captain)
5. Lee Keegan (Westport)
6. Tom Cunniffe (Castlebar Mitchels)
7. Colm Boyle (Davitts)
8. Seamus O’Shea (Breaffy)
9. Tom Parsons (Charlestown Sarsfields)
10. Diarmuid O’Connor (Ballintubber)
11. Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy)
12. Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore)
21. Barry Moran (Castlebar Mitchels)
14. Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber)
15. Jason Doherty (Burrishoole)
Subs
19. Chris Barrett (Belmullet) for Cunniffe (inj) (34)
16. Rob Hennelly (Breaffy) for Clarke (inj) (half-time)
20. Patrick Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels) for Vaughan (black card) (54)
13. Andy Moran (Ballaghadereen) for Moran (62)
26. Alan Freeman (Aghamore) for Seamus O’Shea (65)
17. Kevin Keane (Westport) for Cafferkey (69)
Donegal
1 Paul Durcan (Ballyboden St Enda’s)
2. Paddy McGrath (Ardara)
3. Neil McGee (Gweedore)
4. Eamon McGee (Gweedore)
5. Ryan McHugh (Kilcar)
6. Karl Lacey (Four Masters)
7. Frank McGlynn (Glenfin)
8. Neil Gallagher (Glenswilly)
19. Christy Toye (St Michael’s)
21. Hugh McFadden (Killybegs)
11. Odhrán Mac Niallais (Gweedore)
12. Mark McHugh (Kilcar)
13. Pádraig McBrearty (Kilcar)
14. Michael Murphy (Glenswilly)
15. Colm McFadden (Naomh Michael)
Subs
9. Martin McElhinney (St Michael’s) for Toye (half-time)
17. Anthony Thompson (Naomh Conaill) for Neil McGee (inj) (38)
23. Leo McLoone (Naomh Conaill) for MacNiallais (40)
Referee: David Gough (Meath)
Still including Jack Byrne in a list about future ireland hopefuls is either a lack of research by the journalist or a lack of depth in Irish youth players
@@aidoroch: or a complete show of ignorance from yourself. One of the best players in league 1 this year. Not bad for a 21 year old failure.
Hold tight 17 year old Jonathan Afolabi from Tallaght tearing it up in Southampton’s under 23 team, would be nice to see an article about him on here..
Jack Byrne? ??? Ffs. I’d say his chances have come and gone by now. Oldham left him go
@Dearan Reidy: blackburn also cut short his loan move. But at 21 has loads of time
@Dearan Reidy: are you very sure of that or are you making a baseless assumption? He has been lauded in recent times as one of the best players in League One. Oldham don’t want to let him go but his head has been turned and it looks as though the manager there has admitted to defeat in keeping him.
@Dearan Reidy: I urge you to have a look at the Oldham fans forum where many have raved about him as the best player Oldham have had for a while and assert he’s either going back to Wigan to be sold on or win them the league. It’s completely unfair to be insinuating he’s been left go because you’re following the narrative that he failed at Wigan and Blackburn so here’s another instance of it.
Jack Byrne turning into Anthony Strokes
@Aidan: not really. Wes didn’t make league 1 till he was his late 20′s.
And Warren O’Hora, he plays for bohs.
So basically we’re banjaxed for the next years to come
never mind players….pundits is where the money is!
obviously carragher and neville, but sutton is very very good. knows his stuff and is not afraid to enter an argument if he believes someone has said something false.
Christ we’re fecked if this is our future
If Josh Cullen could kick onto the next level then maybe he can be that player to control the tempo in central midfield that we have sorely lacked since the days of players like Roy Keane and Stephen Reid. Ryan Manning and Liam Kelly are good bets too. Would be great if one of those could become and established premier league playmaker. Hogan needs to leave Villa too, he’s been pants there. He’s the only striker out there who right now looks like he could fill the role we are so lacking in if he pulled his finger out and started scoring again.
Ryan Manning not playing many games with QPR this year either. Not sure why. Think we need Jack Back and find a few more Grannies
An awful lot of coaching going on last few years in Ireland ? This sometimes in my opinion can put young lads astray , they should be encouraged to be themselves and express their natural ability and not turn them off the game . Coaching is ideal but encouragement and Man management is paramount also in equal amounts in my humble opinion .
I was excited about Cullen, manning, jack Byrne at the start of the season but it really has not gone well for them. Cullen not playing for Bolton and about to be recalled by WHUFC to possibly be sold. manning is a bit part player at QPR this season while he really should be kicking on for the great year he had last season and Jack Byrne just seems to have the World of talent yet no club wants him, city, blackburn, Wigan and now Oldham all have dumped him in 18 months. My biggest fear of the whole lot is Declan Rice, he is a super future talent but is at a relegation threatened club so they are afraid to play him regularly because he may make rookie mistakes and now they are buying Mawson from Swansea which will push him further down the pecking order.
@Adrian Boland: apparently Cullen finally put in a big performance a couple of days ago. Maybe starting to settle at Bolton
@Adrian Boland: Oldham did not dump Byrne. Wigan want him to come back so they can have a permanent swap with Hearts in the SPL for one of their players. Byrne is clearly mulling it over. You are clearly listening too much to an embittered Richie Wellens.
I
There’s a young 19yr old from called Ryan Nolan from Shannon co clare has not long signed a pro contract with Inter Milan, he plays Centerback back for them, he has won the under19 Italian league the last 2yrs in a row….he can’t get a look in, in the Irish setup (Disgrace)… and Spain are sniffing around him as He’s eligible to play for them also…