Ryan O'Donoghue of Mayo celebrates after scoring a goal during the Connacht GAA Football Senior Championship quarter-final match between Mayo and Sligo at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar, Mayo. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.
Connacht SFC quarter-final
MAYO 2-20 SLIGO 2-17
By Colm Gannon in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park
Two late points from Sligo, including one from the impressive Niall Murphy, weren't enough to deny Mayo a place in the Connacht semi-final against Leitrim, as the hosts held on for a three-point victory in Castlebar**.**
Despite a strong finish, Sligo ultimately fell short after Mayo had built a more substantial lead throughout the second half.
Mayo carried a three-point advantage into the break, and Aidan O'Shea extended their lead to six just two minutes after the restart with a well-taken goal. However, Sligo responded quickly, Luke Towey palming the ball home at the far post three minutes later to keep his side in contention.
By the three-quarter mark, Mayo appeared to have firmly taken control. Outscoring Sligo by seven points to three over the preceding 15 minutes, they surged to a 2-17 to 1-11 lead.
During this dominant spell, Mayo survived a scare when Donnacha McHugh made a crucial goal-line block to deny Pat Spillane, a score that would have narrowed the gap to just two points. Instead, Mayo pressed on, with two Ryan O'Donoghue frees and points from Enda Hession and Fergal Boland stretching their lead to nine.
Showing commendable resilience, Sligo refused to give up. Cian Lally injected fresh hope into the Yeats County challenge when he breached the Mayo defence and fired a powerful shot to the net with eleven minutes remaining, reducing the deficit to five points. As the clock ticked down, both sides traded scores.
McLoughlin landed Sligo's first two-point score of the day in the 68th minute, quickly followed by Murphy's effort. In the end, despite their late rally, Sligo's efforts proved to be too little, too late, as Mayo secured a narrow victory and passage to the next stage of the Connacht Championship.
A late Sligo surge in the dying moments of the first half saw them claw back the deficit to just three points at the interval to trail 1-8 to 0-8.
Tony McEntee's Sligo outfit were quick off the mark, with David Quinn slotting over a point two minutes after the throw-in. Mayo responded swiftly, Aidan O'Shea setting up Davitt Neary to fist the ball over the bar and level the score. Niall Murphy then edged Sligo ahead with the first of his impressive four first-half points.
Just shy of the six-minute mark, Mayo found the net. A flowing move initiated from Colm Reape's kick-out saw Davitt Neary and Darren McHale advance the ball to Ryan O'Donoghue, who finished emphatically past Daniel Lyons.
This goal sparked a period of Mayo dominance, as they reeled off three consecutive points – two from Aidan O'Shea and one from Darren McHale – establishing a 1-4 to 0-2 lead by the 19th minute.
Niall Murphy finally broke Sligo's scoring drought, which had lasted a quarter of an hour, with a well-taken point from a tight angle on the right. Mayo quickly countered with a brace of their own, a Ryan O'Donoghue free followed by a point from Jack Carney.
The sides then traded scores, Pat Spillane replying for Sligo to Carney's effort, maintaining Mayo's six-point advantage at 1-7 to 0-4 with eight minutes remaining in the half.
Sligo reduced the margin to four thanks to a Niall Murphy free and Pat Spillane's second point of the half. Matthew Ruane then added a point for the home side, a well-worked move seeing him play a one-two with Aidan O'Shea to put Mayo ahead 1-8 to 0-6 with just a minute left on the clock. However, Sligo had the final say of the half, with late points from McLoughlin and another from the influential Niall Murphy leaving the score finely poised at the break, with just three points separating the teams.
Scorers for Mayo: RyanO’Donoghue (1-4, 4f), Aidan O’Shea (1-2), Darren McHale (0-4), Jack Carney (0-3), Fergal Boland (0-2), Enda Hession (0-1), Matthew Ruane (0-1), Davitt Neary (0-1), Dylan Thornton (0-1), Conall Dawson (0-1)
Scorers for Sligo: Niall Murphy (0-7, 1 2pt), Alan McLoughlin (0-5, 1 2pt),Cian Lally (1-1), Luke Towey (1-0), Pat Spillane (0-2), David Quinn (0-1), Oisin Flynn (0-1)
Mayo: Colm Reape; Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh, Enda Hession; Sam Callinan, David McBrien, Stephen Coen; Jack Coyne, Matthew Ruane; Davitt Neary, Darren McHale, Fenton Kelly Aidan O’Shea, Dylan Thornton, Ryan O’Donoghue.
Subs: Diarmuid O’Connor for Ruane, Fergal Boland for Kelly, Niall Coggins for Neary, Sean Morahan for McHugh (BS), Conall Dawson for Hession
Sligo: Daniel Lyons; Evan Lyons, Eddie McGuinness, Paul McNamara; Brian Cox, Nathan Mullen, Luke Towey; Canice Mulligan, Paddy O’Connor; Cian Lally, David Quinn, Alan Reilly; Alan McLoughlin, Niall Murphy, Pat Spillane Subs: Ross Doherty for Quinn, Lee Deignan for McNamara, Shane Deignan for Spillane, Oisin Flynn for Reilly, Mikey Gordon for O’Connor
Ref: Noel Mooney (Cavan)
