Not after they lost a Connacht semi-final to Roscommon in Castlebar.
Not after they lost an early qualifier game to Tyrone, displaying all the old self-harm traits that had afflicted Mayo teams down through successive generations.
But Mayo are back in the All-Ireland final. As the full house was drained of much of it’s colour around the hour mark, it was a procession. Mayo were keeping the score ticking over and Louth had long given up.
What might happen in the All-Ireland final? We will let that game look after itself. But this felt somewhat statement-ish from Mayo. Not entirely ruthless. Getting there though.
And it didn’t feel that way in the first half.
Louth have been monstering teams on kickouts this season. The calculations of manager Gavin Devlin would have factored in Mayo goalkeeper Jack Livingstone’s lack of experience here in a packed house.
From his eleven first half kickouts, Louth pinched seven of them, including two spectacular consecutive clean catches from Louth centre-back Dara McDonnell around the half-hour mark.
From one of them, Conor Grimes landed a two pointer that drew Louth level. They had work to do to claw back the goal by Ryan O’Donoghue in the sixth minute when Paul Towey’s adventurous kick forward to Kobe McDonald was rewarded by a cheeky ‘fake’ as he let it run on the incoming O’Donoghue who kept his head by rifling beyond Niall McDonnell in goal.
Ryan O'Donoghue is your Allianz Man of the Match on a day where he started and finished the scoring for Mayo putting up 1-9 on the day and sending the westerners to the All-Ireland Final pic.twitter.com/kMDyGzzczb
Louth had no fewer than seven goes at two-pointers in the first half. Ciaran Downey from play and a monstrous Sam Mulroy free outside the arc brought them back into contention.
Mayo had just two attempts for an orange flag, landing one from O’Donoghue who was torturing his marker Donal McKenny.
Louth had to suffer another blow in the first half when Craig Lennon, after nimbly getting himself out of a situation where he was boxed in, raced into open territory before collapsing with a lower limb injury, having to be replaced on 23 minutes by Tadhg McDonnell.
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They might have been satisfied with their effort and the flow of the game until Mayo’s Darragh Bierne was blocked down in an attempt to kick a point. The ball spilled around the penalty spot until Sam Callinan fed Beirne to plant to the net, leaving Mayo in the lead at the break, 2-9 to 0-11.
Nobody could have predicted just how aggressive Mayo would emerge for the second half.
It took Louth until the 57th minute to open their scoring account.
By then Mayo had inflicted too many fatal wounds, hitting 1-6.
They might have had more goals in that period, the bar denying Tommy Conroy before he had one stopped by Louth goalkeeper Niall McDonnell. McDonnell also denied O’Donoghue a second goal in the very next minute as Mayo were running rampant.
A three-pointer did come in the 50th minute after Sam Callinan robbed Kieran McArdle in possession and the counter-attack swept upfield, with Conor Loftus eventually blasting home from close range.
Conor Loftus slams home a goal. james lawlor photos
james lawlor photos
Just before that came an example of how this Mayo team might be unlike many that came before.
The forceful Conor Grimes was trying to plough his way out of the Louth defence. He was met with the quick hands and strength of O’Donoghue who reached a strong hand over his shoulder to wrestle the ball from his grasp.
Once O’Donoghue went to scoop up the loose ball, Grimes fouled him. A mixture of pride and frustration was in that move, only slightly tarnished as Darragh Beirne’s free dropped short.
As the game petered out, we were robbed of the kind of grandstand finales that Gaelic football has served up all year. Perhaps we have become spoiled.
Mayo back in an All-Ireland final, five years after the love was abandoned. Wow-wee.
Scorers for Louth: Ciaran Downey 0-6 (2 x 2pt play), Conor Grimes 0-4 (1x 2pt play), Sam Mulroy 0-2 (1 x2pt free), Ciaran Keenan, Dara McDonnell, Tommy Durnin 0-1 each.
Scorers for Mayo: Ryan O’Donoghue 1-11 (3f, 1x 2pt play, 2 x 2pt free), Darragh Beirne 1-2 (1f), Kobe McDonald 0-4, Conor Loftus 1-0, Jordan Flynn 0-2 (1 x2pt play), Cian McHale 0-2, Matthew Ruane, Paul Towey 0-1 each.
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Mayo demolish Louth by 17 points to become first side in All-Ireland final
Mayo 3-23
Louth 0-15
NOBODY WAS EXPECTING this.
Not after they lost a Connacht semi-final to Roscommon in Castlebar.
Not after they lost an early qualifier game to Tyrone, displaying all the old self-harm traits that had afflicted Mayo teams down through successive generations.
But Mayo are back in the All-Ireland final. As the full house was drained of much of it’s colour around the hour mark, it was a procession. Mayo were keeping the score ticking over and Louth had long given up.
What might happen in the All-Ireland final? We will let that game look after itself. But this felt somewhat statement-ish from Mayo. Not entirely ruthless. Getting there though.
And it didn’t feel that way in the first half.
Louth have been monstering teams on kickouts this season. The calculations of manager Gavin Devlin would have factored in Mayo goalkeeper Jack Livingstone’s lack of experience here in a packed house.
From his eleven first half kickouts, Louth pinched seven of them, including two spectacular consecutive clean catches from Louth centre-back Dara McDonnell around the half-hour mark.
From one of them, Conor Grimes landed a two pointer that drew Louth level. They had work to do to claw back the goal by Ryan O’Donoghue in the sixth minute when Paul Towey’s adventurous kick forward to Kobe McDonald was rewarded by a cheeky ‘fake’ as he let it run on the incoming O’Donoghue who kept his head by rifling beyond Niall McDonnell in goal.
Louth had no fewer than seven goes at two-pointers in the first half. Ciaran Downey from play and a monstrous Sam Mulroy free outside the arc brought them back into contention.
Mayo had just two attempts for an orange flag, landing one from O’Donoghue who was torturing his marker Donal McKenny.
Louth had to suffer another blow in the first half when Craig Lennon, after nimbly getting himself out of a situation where he was boxed in, raced into open territory before collapsing with a lower limb injury, having to be replaced on 23 minutes by Tadhg McDonnell.
They might have been satisfied with their effort and the flow of the game until Mayo’s Darragh Bierne was blocked down in an attempt to kick a point. The ball spilled around the penalty spot until Sam Callinan fed Beirne to plant to the net, leaving Mayo in the lead at the break, 2-9 to 0-11.
Nobody could have predicted just how aggressive Mayo would emerge for the second half.
It took Louth until the 57th minute to open their scoring account.
By then Mayo had inflicted too many fatal wounds, hitting 1-6.
They might have had more goals in that period, the bar denying Tommy Conroy before he had one stopped by Louth goalkeeper Niall McDonnell. McDonnell also denied O’Donoghue a second goal in the very next minute as Mayo were running rampant.
A three-pointer did come in the 50th minute after Sam Callinan robbed Kieran McArdle in possession and the counter-attack swept upfield, with Conor Loftus eventually blasting home from close range.
Just before that came an example of how this Mayo team might be unlike many that came before.
The forceful Conor Grimes was trying to plough his way out of the Louth defence. He was met with the quick hands and strength of O’Donoghue who reached a strong hand over his shoulder to wrestle the ball from his grasp.
Once O’Donoghue went to scoop up the loose ball, Grimes fouled him. A mixture of pride and frustration was in that move, only slightly tarnished as Darragh Beirne’s free dropped short.
As the game petered out, we were robbed of the kind of grandstand finales that Gaelic football has served up all year. Perhaps we have become spoiled.
Mayo back in an All-Ireland final, five years after the love was abandoned. Wow-wee.
Scorers for Louth: Ciaran Downey 0-6 (2 x 2pt play), Conor Grimes 0-4 (1x 2pt play), Sam Mulroy 0-2 (1 x2pt free), Ciaran Keenan, Dara McDonnell, Tommy Durnin 0-1 each.
Scorers for Mayo: Ryan O’Donoghue 1-11 (3f, 1x 2pt play, 2 x 2pt free), Darragh Beirne 1-2 (1f), Kobe McDonald 0-4, Conor Loftus 1-0, Jordan Flynn 0-2 (1 x2pt play), Cian McHale 0-2, Matthew Ruane, Paul Towey 0-1 each.
Mayo
1. Jack Livingstone (Breaffy)
2. Jack Coyne (Ballyhaunis) 3. Donnacha McHugh (Castlebar) 4. Eoin McGreal (Garrymore)
5. Sam Callinan (Ballina) 6. David McBrien (Ballaghadereen) 7. Enda Hession (Garrymore)
8. Bob Tuohy (Castlebar) 9. Jack Carney (Kilmeena)
10. Stephen Coen (Hollymount) 23. Paul Towey (Charlestown) 12. Jordan Flynn (Crossmolina)
13. Darragh Beirne (Clare-0-morris) 14. Ryan O’Donoghue (Belmullet) 15. Kobe McDonald (Crossmolina)
Subs:
25. Tommy Conroy (The Neale) for Paul Towey (HT)
11. Conor Loftus (Crossmolina) for Coen (42m)
26. Cian McHale (Moy Davitts) for Beirne (50m)
17. Fenton Kelly (Davitts) for McGreal (55m)
22. Matthew Ruane (Breaffy) for Flynn (62m)
Louth
1. Niall McDonnell (St Fechin’s)
2. Emmet Carolan (Newtown Blues) 3. Donal McKenny (Ardee) 4. Daire Nally (Newtown Blues)
5. Conal McKeever (Clan Na Gael) 6. Dara McDonnell (Naomh Máirtín) 7. Craig Lennon St Mochta’s)
8. Conor Early (Na Fianna) 21. Ciarán Keenan (Ardee)
10. James Maguire (Carrickmacross) 11. Sam Mulroy (Naomh Máirtín) 12. Conor Grimes (Glen Emmets)
13. Kieran McArdle (St Brigid’s) 14. Ciarán Downey (Newtown Blues) 15. Ryan Burns (Hunterstown)
Subs:
23. Tadhg McDonnell (Ardee) for Lennon (23m)
18. Ciaran Byrne (St Mochta’s) for Keenan (40m)
19. Tommy Durnin (Westerns) for Maguire (46m)
22. Conall McCaul (St Joseph’s) for Grimes (53m)
26. Anthony Williams (Dreadnots) for McKeever (62m)
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)
**
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