Mayo withstand Rossies’ rally to take Hyde Park spoils

Mayo withstood a late Roscommon rally to deservedly claim their second victory of the All-Ireland series at Dr Hyde Park, running out 2-14 to 1-15 winners.

Second-half goals from Ryan O’Donoghue — from the penalty spot — and Donnacha McHugh put Kevin McStay’s men in the box seat before Roscommon came with a late rally, spearheaded by Conor Cox’s converted penalty on the cusp of injury time.

However, the sight of Enda Smith limping from the fray won’t have helped manager Davy Burke’s mood ahead of their pivotal game against Cavan in two weeks’ time.

The tit-for-tat nature of the scoring was reflected in a tight opening 35 minutes where the sides were level seven times, but Mayo won’t have been happy with their conversion rate, hitting eight wides, which included Darren McHale missing an open goal.

The first four points were shared — Donie Smith and Diarmuid Murtagh (free) on target for the Rossies, while Darren McHale and Matthew Ruane split the posts for Mayo.

However, rapid-fire scores from Conor Cox (free) and Robbie Dolan edged Roscommon two points ahead, but Player of the Match Eoghan McLaughlin and Ryan O’Donoghue (free) brought the sides level, 0-04 apiece, by the end of the third quarter.

A superb individual score by Enda Smith edged the Rossies back in front before McLaughlin found a huge hole through the middle of the home side’s defence to bring the sides level once more.

Daire Cregg hit one of the points of the half before Jordan Flynn restored parity.

A 28th minute free from Ryan O’Donoghue put Mayo ahead for the first time but Ciarán Lennon became Roscommon’s seventh scorer of the half to tie the contest at 0-07 apiece.

There was still time for O’Donoghue and Cox (free) to swap scores to leave the sides deadlocked at 0-08 each, but the wise money was on Mayo with wind advantage to come.

For most of that second half, they justified their favouritism as Cillian O’Connor, from over 45 metres, McHale and O’Donoghue pushed Mayo 0-12 to 0-10 after 50 minutes.

Roscommon were struggling to get possession into their forwards, and had to rely on placed balls from Diarmuid Murtagh, Conor Carroll, from a ’45, and Conor Cox for their scores.

Mayo were patient before finding the pass to open up the Roscommon defence, and Flynn’s second score of the game was followed by the game’s pivotal moment on the hour mark.

Mayo moved the ball swiftly to O’Donoghue who was fouled in the eyes of referee Barry Cassidy, although Roscommon argued that the Mayo forward had taken too many steps.

Up stepped O’Donoghue to confidently stroke home the penalty and hand his side a 1-12 to 0-11 lead.

Substitute Keith Doyle hit Roscommon’s first point from play of the half but when defender Donnacha McHugh fastened himself to another swift Mayo move, a 2-13 to 0-13 lead looked unassailable with two minutes remaining.

But Roscommon rallied and when substitute Dylan Ruane was upended, Conor Cox became the first Roscommon forward to score a goal, via the penalty spot, against Mayo in the championship in the Hyde in 23 years.

Lively substitute Tommy Conroy gave Mayo some breathing space, before late points from Donie Smith and Ultan Harney pared the margin back to two points.

But Roscommon had left themselves with too much to do as Mayo, who lost Fergal Boland to a straight red card, held on for their third victory against their western neighbours this season.

Roscommon: Conor Carroll (0-01, a ’45); David Murray, Brian Stack, Niall Higgins; Niall Daly, Robbie Dolan (0-01), Eoin McCormack; Enda Smith (0-01), Tadhg O’Rourke; Conor Hand, Donie Smith (0-02), Ciarán Lennon (0-01); Conor Cox (1-04, 1-00 penalty, 0-03 frees, 0-01 mark), Daire Cregg (0-01), Diarmuid Murtagh (0-02, 0-02 frees).

Subs: Keith Doyle (0-01) for Hand (h-t), Dylan Ruane for Lennon (44), Ultan Harney (0-01) for O’Rourke (53), Ruaidhrí Fallon for Daly (53), Shane Cunnane for Dolan (63).

Mayo: Colm Reape; David McBrien, Pádraig Ó’Hora, Sam Callinan; Stephen Coen, Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh (1-00); Jack Carney, Matthew Ruane (0-01); Eoghan McLaughlin (0-03), Ryan O’Donoghue (1-04, 1-00 penalty, 0-02 frees), Jordan Flynn (0-02); Darren McHale (0-02), Aidan O’Shea, Cillian O’Connor (0-01).

Subs: Conor Loftus for McBrien (h-t), Tommy Conroy (0-01) for O’Connor (53), Fergal Boland for O’Shea (62), Enda Hession for McHale (68), Bob Tuohy for McLoughlin (70).

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry).