Rude awakening as Rossies run riot in Castlebar
Colm Enright of Mayo slots the sliothar over the arm of Roscommon goalkeeper Jack Ryan to score a goal deep in the first-half.
Mayo’s U20s dreams of reaching an All-Ireland final at Croke Park were blown out of the water by a Roscommon side that overpowered and out-hurled them at MacHale Park yesterday (Monday), outscoring their hosts by 0-15 to 0-1 through a 25 minute period in the second-half.
“Physically we weren’t strong enough. It wasn’t a match, we just couldn’t keep with them,” was the blunt summary of team manager Brian Finn after the game.
“I can’t make any excuses, our lads did as much as they could but they were stronger and fitter than us and we couldn’t stick with the pace of it.”
Roscommon had scoring threats all over the top half of the pitch but it was their power and speed through the middle that really tore the Mayo defence apart, with midfielder Keelan Ryan and man of the match Seán Canning, a first cousin of former Galway hurler Joe, both galloping through the middle at will throughout. Canning, one of 12 senior panelists in this Roscommon group, ran up a tally of 1-6, while his fellow seniors Micheál Hussey and Paddy Fallon also looked a class apart against a much smaller and weaker Mayo side.
“There were a lot of young lads out there, they’ll learn from that, regroup and go again certainly. Some have come through from U17 last year and they have two more years in the grade, but it was men against boys in a lot of places,” said Finn “We have four lads injured, three of them definitely would have been starters, and injuries from other codes stopped them from playing. We have lads getting pressure from clubs to play games, and we can only take what we get out of them,” he added.
Even in the first ten minutes, when Mayo shared the first six points equally with their neighbours, Roscommon looked like the stronger side. Paddy Fallon scored a wonderful sideline cut, but that was matched with a magnificent strike from distance from Killian Gallagher, while Eoin Ryan also popped over a point when he might have chosen to try and link up with Ronan Fallon for a potential goal chance.
Even after Brian Mannion reached highest to tap a dropping sliotar away from Brian O’Donovan and sweep it into the net, Mayo weren’t out of touch, and they replied with a nice point from Enright to cut the gap to two.
Then the Rossies cut loose with 1-4 on the spin, their goal coming from Canning after he scythed through the heart of the defence, and it became clear that this had the potential to be a long and difficult afternoon.
Liam Óg Coyle and Mannion got the scoreboard moving, and as soon as Colm Enright scrambled a close range goal for the hosts, Roscommon snatched momentum right back with a run of points before half-time, including a nice strike on the run by Rory Lyons just before the break.
Mayo mustered up an element of resistance in the first five minutes of the second half, with just one point scored at either end to make it 2-14 to 1-7, but the next 25 minutes or so was a procession, with Roscommon knocking over 15 of the next 16 scores. Paddy Fallon ran up his tally with an array of fine strikes from frees and from play, Canning added more points including a thunderbolt from 25 metres that could easily have dipped under the crossbar, while Liam Óg Coyle and Brian Mannion showed their crafty stickwork with some good strikes from distance, further illustrating the variety of ways that this group could score.
Mayo simply didn’t have the same firepower, the same ability to win the ball, or the same accuracy in moving it through the lines.
Late scores from Enright and Killian Gallagher were the least that Mayo deserved for an honest effort, but in a battle between a Mayo side with one senior panellist and a Roscommon team where as many as a dozen players will tog on Saturday afternoon against Donegal in the Nicky Rackard Cup, there was never any doubt about the winner.
Finn also referred to that extra match experience as a crucial ingredient in Roscommon’s performance, and conversely, a huge issue for Mayo.
“Take Donegal, we beat them and if they didn’t have the Ulster League, they were out after one game. If we had lost, we were out after one game, which is terrible for lads. With eight teams it’s very easy to have two groups of four, three games, and you have something to build on. But we can’t change that.
“I’m disappointed for them on the day, that result is not a reflection of who they are, and it’s very hard to take a beating like that,” he admitted.
Scorers – Roscommon: Paddy Fallon 0-12 (0-5f, 0-1 sideline), Seán Canning 1-6, Brian Mannion 1-3, Liam Óg Coyle and Rory Lyons 0-3 each, Keelan Ryan, Michéal Hussey and Gavin Meares 0-1 each.
Mayo: Colm Enright 1-2, Ronan Fallon 0-4f, Killian Gallagher 0-2, Eoin Ryan and James Byrne 0-1 each.
Mayo: Brian O’Donovan; Aidan McGing, Conor Ketterick, Anthony Rowland; Killian Gallagher, Matthew Connor, Jake Glavey; Fiachra Glavey, Seán McGhee; Seán Geraghty, Eoghan Ketterick, Eoin Ryan; Colm Enright, Ronan Fallon, James Byrne. Subs: James Greally (for E Ketterick 27), Micheál Richardson (for Glavey 44), Lucas Kenny (for Byrne 44), Cathal Guilfoyle (for Geraghty 44), Oisín Mulroy (for Rowland 50).
Roscommon: Jack Ryan; Oisín Flynn, James Dillon, Tomás Tiernan; Jimmy Hoey, Tommy Fleming, Micheál Hussey; Liam Óg Coyle, Keelan Ryan; Paddy Fallon, Seán Canning, Rory Coyle; Brian Mannion, Gavin Meares, Rory Lyons.
Subs: Conor Kelly (for R Coyle 44), Daniel Bolger (for Tiernan 44), Cathal Geraghty (for Meares 48), Jack Tully (for Dillon 48), Aidan Hoare (for L Óg Coyle 51).
REF: Michael Connolly (Sligo)
