Mayo 2-13
Donegal 0-11
Fintan O’Toole reports from Croke Park
MAYO POWERED PAST Donegal for the second time in three years at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage tonight in Croke Park.
Since losing the 2012 final to their Ulster opponents, Mayo have reversed the trend and the Connacht champions were too strong in this encounter.
Victory propels them into a clash with Dublin on 30 August at the semi-final stage and it is the fifth consecutive year that they are involved in the last four of the All-Ireland series.
Mayo’s two goals shaped the course and outcome of this game. The opening one provided the perfect tonic before the break when it arrived in injury-time in the first-half.
Aidan O’Shea illustrated his threat at full-forward as he fielded a delivery over Neil McGee, shook off Mark McHugh and buried the ball low past Paul Durcan to the net.
That pushed Mayo into a four-point lead at the interval and life improved further straight after the restart.
Lee Keegan was sent clear by Cillian O’Connor and while his shot off his left may have been a point attempt, it dipped perfectly past Durcan and the ball nestled in the corner of the net.
They were two killer blows for Donegal to suffer and they never recovered thereafter. The closest they managed to cut the gap to in the second-half was six points but it was beyond them to overhaul that level of a deficit.
The teams looked evenly-matched in the first-half when they were locked together at 0-4 apiece with Keegan and Michael Murphy kicking some superb points for their respective teams.
Mayo made a burst as they hit three points on the spin courtesy of Cillian O’Connor, Jason Doherty and Kevin McLoughlin to leave them 0-7 to 0-4 clear by the 31st minute.
A pair of Murphy converted frees dragged Donegal back into contention before they were floored by O’Shea’s goal.
The Keegan strike was another hammer blow for Donegal to suffer early in the second-half and then defensive lynchpin Neil McGee limped off with an injury. With a half hour remaining, there was ample evidence that this was not to be their night.
They tried to best to break Mayo open but Barry Moran helped Ger Cafferkey cover the space available to danger man Michael Murphy as they nullified his threat.
At times Mayo looked like they could storm clear by a huge margin on the scoreboard but after leading 2-10 to 0-8 in the 46th minute, they only scored one point in the next 20 minutes as they were wasteful in front of goal and dropped too many shots short into the hands of Paul Durcan.
Donegal trailed by 2-11 to 0-11 with four minutes remaining but any lingering hopes of a dramatic comeback were ended as substitute Alan Freeman and Doherty kicked the points that assured Mayo fans they have a semi-final to look forward to.
Scorers for Mayo: Lee Keegan 1-2, Aidan O’Shea 1-0, Cillian O’Connor (0-2f), Jason Doherty 0-3 each, Kevin McLoughlin 0-2, Keith Higgins, Alan Freeman, Andy Moran 0-1 each.
Scorers for Donegal: Michael Murphy 0-8 (0-5f, 0-1 ’45), Anthony Thompson, Christy Toye, Leo McLoone 0-1 each.
Mayo
1. David Clarke (Ballina Stephenites)
2. Ger Cafferkey (Ballina Stephenites)
3. Donal Vaughan (Ballinrobe)
4. Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis – Captain)
5. Lee Keegan (Westport)
6. Tom Cunniffe (Castlebar Mitchels)
7. Colm Boyle (Davitts)
8. Seamus O’Shea (Breaffy)
9. Tom Parsons (Charlestown Sarsfields)
10. Diarmuid O’Connor (Ballintubber)
11. Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy)
12. Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore)
21. Barry Moran (Castlebar Mitchels)
14. Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber)
15. Jason Doherty (Burrishoole)
Subs
19. Chris Barrett (Belmullet) for Cunniffe (inj) (34)
16. Rob Hennelly (Breaffy) for Clarke (inj) (half-time)
20. Patrick Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels) for Vaughan (black card) (54)
13. Andy Moran (Ballaghadereen) for Moran (62)
26. Alan Freeman (Aghamore) for Seamus O’Shea (65)
17. Kevin Keane (Westport) for Cafferkey (69)
Donegal
1 Paul Durcan (Ballyboden St Enda’s)
2. Paddy McGrath (Ardara)
3. Neil McGee (Gweedore)
4. Eamon McGee (Gweedore)
5. Ryan McHugh (Kilcar)
6. Karl Lacey (Four Masters)
7. Frank McGlynn (Glenfin)
8. Neil Gallagher (Glenswilly)
19. Christy Toye (St Michael’s)
21. Hugh McFadden (Killybegs)
11. Odhrán Mac Niallais (Gweedore)
12. Mark McHugh (Kilcar)
13. Pádraig McBrearty (Kilcar)
14. Michael Murphy (Glenswilly)
15. Colm McFadden (Naomh Michael)
Subs
9. Martin McElhinney (St Michael’s) for Toye (half-time)
17. Anthony Thompson (Naomh Conaill) for Neil McGee (inj) (38)
23. Leo McLoone (Naomh Conaill) for MacNiallais (40)
Referee: David Gough (Meath)
