A HEATED DUST-UP took place as Mayo and Galway entered the Croke Park dressing rooms at half-time in yesterday’s Connacht final.
The brawl appeared to kick off after Johnny Heaney had words with Aidan O’Shea and players from both sides quickly got involved.
It was the second game in succession that Mayo have been involved in such an incident, following the 2020 All-Ireland final when they clashed with Dublin at the interval.
Unsavoury scenes as the teams leave the pitch at the end of the first half. #sundaygame #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/HAwqrHlIJC
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 25, 2021
Mayo boss James Horan was already in the dressing room working on the tactics board when he heard the racket in the corridor.
“I haven’t a clue what happened,” he said. “I was on moving pieces on a board by myself.
“I heard roaring and shouting so I stayed with my board, to be honest.
“There wasn’t any panic at half-time. We had a lot of possession in the first-half, we just wasted a lot of it, particularly up front.
“We knew that we weren’t a million miles off at half-time. We just sat down and went through a few things and made a few changes.”
The changes he made proved crucial. Oisin Mullin quelled Shane Walsh’s influence, Aidan O’Shea was a threat at full-forward while the introductions of Eoghan McLaughlin and Kevin McLoughlin greatly improved their attacking play.
“We were about 52% (scoring efficiency) from attacks. We were giving away the ball and we were giving momentum to Galway. That was giving them a lot of fuel. I think Aidan going inside at the start of the second-half, he pulled two of them (with him).
“Kevin McLoughlin and Eoghan made a huge difference. With Kevin’s experience and knowledge and Eoghan’s running power, I think that made a huge difference and the subs that we brought on as well throughout the game I thought made a big impact at various stages.
“Kevin is just back from an injury very recently, a rolled ankle so it seemed like a logical thing to do, bringing a guy of his calibre on, you saw the difference that it made. The same with Eoghan, he had a knock. It was just the prudent thing to do and it worked out very well for us today so yeah, I’m happy with that.
“Oisin Mullin is a brilliant player, there is no two ways about it. Yeah, the ball coming in was a bit slower and that helps, so yeah, he wasn’t, Shane was taking it going away from goal, all that kind of stuff, so that all helps, but yeah Oisin’s hard to get past.
“We got a good start to the second-half as well. That was good. We know that we have strong runners, that’s a key strength of ours and the longer the game went on and we kept doing the right things we knew we’d get stronger and stronger. So overall we’re delighted.”
He was particularly impressed with O’Shea, who stripped two Galway players of possession and delivered some excellent passes inside. He played a free role at midfield in the opening period before spending more time closer to goal after the restart.
“He’s phenomenal. You saw his tackling out there. He targets key turnovers and turnovers are huge. He got a great one off Shane (Walsh) that created a goal chance for us. He’s very, very good at that and he drifts around the place. Very clever player.
“He did well in the first-half. A couple of meters this way and there could have been a few goal chances from some of his passes. I think him going inside and spending some time inside at the start of the second-half definitely stretched Galway a bit more and gave us a bit more room to use our pace.”
He confirmed Padraig O’Hora went to hospital for an X-ray after being stretchered off during the second-half, but otherwise Mayo head to the All-Ireland semi-final in good stead.
“Every game you win is important. Winning finals is good. I suppose winning the way we did with a middling first-half and coming back strong.
“We were getting stronger and stronger as that game went on so it was great to win it that way as well.
“There is a lot of pluses for us as a team. There are no two ways about it.”
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