Mayo turn the tables with three goals to end Leitrim U20s journey

Once burned, twice shy seemed to be Mayo’s motto as Leitrim’s dreams of a second Connacht championship victory over the Province’s kingpins were ruthlessly shattered in Saturday’s Philly McGuinness Cup Final in Mohill.

Three goals from Mayo was a complete reverse from Leitrim’s famous win over the province’s standard bearers in Ballinamore just a matter of three and a half weeks ago, the Mayo men obviously absorbing the harsh lessons doled out to them that day.

Gone was the lethargy in closing down Paul Honeyman, Darren Cox and Barry McNulty as a fired up Mayo played with an intensity that Leitrim couldn’t match, an intensity that must leave them with a feeling of regret that they hadn’t produced it in Ballinamore at the start of the month.

The feeling that Leitrim would find it hard to pick themselves up after the heavy defeat against Roscommon that ended their championship dreams unfortunately proved to be prescient - Mayo were much more pumped up, forcing the pace and going direct to dangerous forwards in Darragh Beirne and Oisin Cronin.

Whenever Andy Moran’s side got men back in numbers, they forced Mayo into turnovers and over-carrying so Mayo simply eliminated that by going quickly and often, breaking through the centre where the absence of Paddy Keane at centre-back was sorely felt as the winners’ runners punched holes in the Leitrim rearguard.

REPORT: LEITRIM MINORS FALL TO ROSCOMMON ONCE MORE IN BALLINAMORE

Just as important for Leitrim, Mayo found a way to stop Paul Honeyman - the Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins clubman hit them for ten points in the game in Ballinamore but they kept tight reins on the youngster, never allowing him to break free, much the same for Darren Cox whose electric running style caused them big problems in that game.

The game ended sourly for both Cox and Honeyman - Cox, for the second game in a row, received two yellow cards in eight minutes to end his game early while Honeyman picked up a black card for a trip with ten minutes of normal time remaining, ending whatever slim hopes the Green & Gold had at the time.

The dismissals were more the result of frustration as Leitrim never got moving with the same sense of abandon or adventure that they showed in that Ballinamore contest. Instead, it was Mayo doing to Leitrim what Leitrim had done to Mayo - they harried, harassed and attacked with voracious intent, almost as if they were determined to wipe the memory of that defeat from their memory.

It was a disappointing end for a campaign that promised so much - a first victory over Mayo in the Connacht championship since 1998 was obviously the high but the late collapse against Sligo probably damaged this team far more than we realised at the time.

Yet as a development project, this campaign has been a success with quite a few unheralded youngsters now being tipped to be fast tracked into the Senior team. There is still quite a jump to Senior but what they have shown in this campaign is an ability to compete.

The notion that this was a very different Mayo team didn’t take long to present itself as Mayo hit 1-1 in their first two attacks, Oisin Conlon hitting a nice point on the run after 35 seconds. Tom Plunkett levelled after a good run from Jake Tobin but Mayo struck the decisive first blow barely two minutes in.

The Leitrim team who were defeated by Mayo in the Philly McGuinness Cup Final in Mohill Picture: Willie Donnellan

John MacMonagle broke down the centre of the pitch, his long ball finding Darragh Beirne who blasted the ball to the Leitrim net. Leitrim immediately replied with a fine point for Jack Casey, set up by Barry McNulty, but it was Mayo creating the chances, even if they were missing quite a few.

The visitors had points from Berine and Fergal McLoughlin along with three missed chances before Paul Honeyman converted a free that was moved in for dissent. Another Honeyman free sandwiched by two Mayo wides generated some momentum and when Barry McNulty hit a wonderful point from the left corner on 21 minutes, the gap was a solitary point.

But it was Mayo who would push on - Oisin Cronin scored a great point under pressure before Ben Guckian was forced by immense Mayo pressure to turnover the ball. A long delivery into the corner found Darragh Beirne, denied a few times in Ballinamore but he made no mistake here, drilling home a great goal.

Keeper David Dolan added a fifty, McNulty converted another free from the corner before Paul Gilmore’s shoulder broke the ball loose and Oisin Cronin fired over to leave Mayo with a 2-6 to 0-6 halftime lead.

Incredibly, the wind that was against Leitrim in the first half turned completely the other way for the second half with Mayo again hitting wides either side of a Beirne free. Leitrim had their best spell of a subdued and cagey second half when Barry McNulty broke through, he was fouled and Ben Guckian fired over the free seven minutes in.

Two minutes later, McNulty took off on a strong run to curl a left footed shot over the Mayo crossbar to get the gap back to five points but with both sides cancelling each other out, we went nine minutes without a score but there were yellow cards for Mayo’s Tom O’Flaherty and Letirim’s Darrren Cox.

THE LAST POINT: UNDERDOGS CAN HAVE THEIR DAY

Beirne converted a tricky free from the corner before Leitrim’s hopes took another big blow when Paul Honeyman was black carded for tripping a Mayo player who dashed in ahead of him to a breaking ball. Mayo would quickly add points from a 50 yard Dolan free and sub Niall Hurley.

Mayo put the icing on the cake when a long ball found Hurley, he broke past two defenders and shot to the Leitrim net from a tight angle with Darragh Beirne adding another free  to complete the visitors’ scoring for the day. The last score of the day fell to Ben Guckian converting a free to complete a difficult day for Leitrim.

LEITRIM

Scorers: Barry McNulty 0-3, 2f; Ben Guckian (2f) & Paul Honeyman (2f) 0-2 each; Jack Casey & Tom Plunkett 0-1 each

Team: Brian Cull, Arek Oberwan, Tom Hughes, Eanna McNamara, Ben Guckian, Killian Maguire, Paul Moran, Jack Foley, Barry McNulty, Naoise McManus, Darren Cox, Jack Casey, Jake Tobin, Tom Plunkett, Paul Honeyman. Subs: Shaun Conlon for Casey (38); Michael McBrien for Maguire (48); Joseph McGloin for Plunkett (52); Paddy Keane & Conor Keegan for McNamara & Moran (57)

MAYO

Scorers: Darragh Beirne 2-4, 3f; Niall Hurley 1-1; Oisin Cronin 0-3; David Dolan 0-2, 50 & f; Finbar McLaughlin 0-1

Team: David Dolan, Eoin McGrail, John MacMonagle, David Slattery, Paul Gilmore, Sean Morahan, John Mulchrone, Jack Melvin, Conal Dawson, Finbar McLaughlin, Tom O’Flaherty, Diarmuid Duffy, Darragh Beirne, Oisin Cronin, Darragh Reilly. Subs: Yousif Coghill for McGrail (32); Dara Reilly for McLaughlin (46); Niall Hurley for Reilly (50); Fiachra Cruise for Cronin (57); Diarmuid Coggins for Dawson (59)

Referee: Ian Monaghan (Roscommon)