Cillian O’Connor inspired Mayo to overcome a valiant Monaghan in Castlebar, to reach the second round of the All Ireland Football Championship qualifiers.
1-6 from O’Connor showing his class as the game’s all-time scorer, as Monaghan could not answer the call and bowed out of the championship in a slender defeat.
Ryan O’Donoghue was not named in the panel, but Jack Carney on his full debut showed his quality to deputise in his place, but the game was all about O’Connor the catalyst for the men in Green and Red.
The Westerners controlled the opening half but had to overturn a late comeback to be ahead at the break, a goal coming from a Cillian O’Connor penalty enough to give them the advantage after a frantic bruising opening half in Castlebar.
Monaghan took the early advantage in the tie as Gary Mohan kickers to quick fire points for a 0-2 lead after three minutes, but after Conor mcmanus was shown a black card for a trip on Aidan O’Shea, the hosts began to come back into the tie, Cillian O’Connor kicking the resulting free, before the high pressing Mayo line proved dividends with Eoghan McLaughlin getting space and hitting the target.
O’Connor raised the green flag from a penalty minutes later, Monaghan guilty of a footblock, the Mayo forward made no mistake finding the top corner. From here, O’Connor and Rob Hennelly added two more points before Jack McCarron ended a 16 minute drought with a score from a mark, making it 1-4 to 0-3 after 19 minutes.
The Teams exchanged further scores as Monaghan began to come back into the game, McCarron influential inside in the forward line, reducing the Mayo lead to three after 28 minutes. O’Connor looked to have made it a four point game before the end of normal time in the first half, but McManus landed a late free, his first score of the game to make it a three point game at the interval.
Straight from the restart O’Connor kicked his fourth point of the afternoon, but Kieran Duffy replied to keep Monaghan within three points, it could have gotten worse for Monaghan straight after the Duffy point, they broke clear immediately from a lovely Hennelly kickout, which found O’Connor inside he passed to McLaughlin he bore down on goal but his shot was saved well by Rory Began.
Michael Bannigan reduced the gap to two points by the 42nd minute, but after a few minutes with no action Lee Keegan popped up to dissect the posts with a lovely point after 57 minutes, Mayo ahead 1-9 to 0-9.
O’Connor and Monaghan substitute Shane Carey exchanged free’s, Carey coming in to replace McManus looking to inspire the Farney Army. Darren McHale and O’Connor kicked late scores before we headed for time added on, as Mayo held a 1-12 to 0-10 advantage.
Conor Leonard and Care both chipped in with late scorers for Monaghan, but they will leave Mayo with a bitter taste as it looked like they should have had a penalty to potentially send the game into extra time, but it was deemed a free out and Paddy Durcan kicked high into the sky before the white flag was waved by the umpire, Mayo through with a four point win, a game that will set the Championship a light for the remainder of the year.
Diarmuid Kearney
Diarmuid Kearney is a freelance Sports Journalist based in Co Kerry. He has more than 5 years experience covering domestic and international soccer for different media organisations, while also working for local and national print and digital organisations covering GAA.