Mayo come good in second half to defeat Rossies

Mayo recorded their second victory in the Dalata Connacht GAA Under 20 Football Championship this evening, defeating Roscommon on a 2-16 to 1-15 scoreline at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar, writes Aiden Henry.

Following an indifferent opening half, Mayo came good after the interval break to score 1-10 and put away a battling Roscommon side that had the better of the exchanges in the first 30 minutes.

In that opening half, Mayo had the advantage of the wind. However, they didn’t make the most of this advantage as it was Roscommon who played the majority of the good football, dominating around the middle of the field.

Indeed, Mayo only managed to win three kick-outs from a total of 19 in the first half of play.

The hosts started well with points from Kobe McDonald and Darragh Beirne before the latter landed a brilliant two-pointer in the sixth minute. It got better four minutes later for the home side as Oisín Deane blasted home a great goal after linking up with McDonald and Beirne.

But that was as good as it got for Mayo in the first half as they would only add two more points while their opponents took over at midfield and scored a succession of points during this period, including a great two-pointer from Charlie O’Carroll. This left the sides level at the interval, 1-6 to 0-9.

Mayo were a much-improved team on the resumption and built up an eight-point lead by the 53rd minute, outscoring Roscommon by 1-8 to 0-3. Their goal was a carbon copy of the first, with McDonald and Beirne combining once again for Deane to find the back of the net for the second time.

In fairness to Roscommon, they never gave up and did manage to get back into contention with a goal from Dean Casey in the 58th minute. However, Mayo secured their victory with a fine two-pointer by McDonald.

*See next week's print edition for a full report