Mayo blister Roscommon for Connacht title

. In securing a 40th Connacht football title, John Maughan’s team didn’t have to perform with the brio that had characterized their earlier victory over Galway. After an uneasy opening, this was far, far too easy.
Sensing that Roscommon were a beaten docket after four punishing games in the championship, it didn’t take long for Kieran McDonald and the Mortimer brothers, Conor and Trevor, to orchestrate the losers’ downfall. McDonald was all precision and vision, and after Trevor Mortimer benefited with a goal in the 18th minute, his younger sibling Conor went on to finish with nine points, including six from frees.
The malaise that affected Roscommon, who now meet Dublin in the fourth round of the qualifiers, was epitomized by the lackluster performance of Frankie Dolan. Customarily the team’s talisman, Dolan missed a couple of first-half frees and then, surprisingly, was substituted at the interval, at which stage Mayo led by 1-7 to 0-2.
“We felt we needed a fresh new approach,” manager Tom Carr said. “When you’re in the situation we were at halftime, you have to be prepared to try things, and hope you can get an early goal to get back in the game.”
That goal never materialized as other players such as David Casey and Francie Grehan were largely anonymous Carr had suggested that Mayo had “confidence bordering on arrogance” before the game, but he was left to eat his words. There was confidence in spades from the mercurial McDonald, but no arrogance.
“I wasn’t relaxed beforehand,” Maughan said. “I felt we had a huge challenge on our hands, so that was a good win. The way we see it now is that we won’t really fear any team. We have speed, skill and great depth in the squad so we have a lot to work with.”
There were more of those traits after the interval as Mayo continued to hold the whip hand as Conor Mortimer added to his total, before sub Austin O’Malley finished the job by firing home a second goal in the last minute.

Kerry 3-10, Limerick 2-9
It was if it was preordained. Limerick had gone so close in the first installment of this Munster football final without winning that there could really only be one result in last Sunday’s replay in Killarney. When you’re searching for a first provincial title in 108 years, golden chances have to be grabbed.
And yet for almost all of the first half, the harbingers of doom looked as if they were going to be rubbished. Limerick were out of the blocks at a blistering pace with Stephen Kelly’s thumping goal setting the tone after just 15 seconds, and that confidence-booster surged through the team as Muiris Gavin, John Galvin and Conor Fitzgerald picked off their scores.
Amazingly, Limerick were 1-6 to 0-2 in front after half an hour and seemingly on their way to a long overdue success.
“Sure it looked like the show was over,” was Kerry manager Jack O’Connor’s verdict after the game. “I mean, we’ve been up against situations like that before and, in fact, we’ve been making it hard on ourselves all year.”
But then Kerry who hadn’t even been smoldering suddenly ignited. Darragh O Se linked with Colm Cooper, and then Cooper found Eoin Brosnan surging into the Limerick rearguard and his drive left goalkeeper Seamus O’Donnell helpless.
Minutes later, Tomas O Se’s high shot was drifting wide when referee Mick Curley spotted a foul by Tommy Stack on Cooper and Dara O Cinneide smacked home what was a controversial penalty low to O’Donnell’s right. Anonymous and ineffectual for nearly all of the half, Kerry were somehow level at 2-3 to 1-6.
“If we were five or six points in front at that stage, it would have been a fairer reflection,” a dejected Limerick manager Liam Kearns said. “And to be honest, I couldn’t believe the penalty, I was astonished, that was the killer, a kick in the teeth. Kerry didn’t deserve to be level at halftime, but we know we left it behind us in the drawn match. That was the game we should have won.”
There was worse to come for Limerick, who now meet Derry in the qualifiers, early in the second half. O Cinneide lost control of the ball, but it was gathered by Mike Frank Russell, who found Liam Hassett and then on to Tomas O Se, who finished superbly for a third goal. Now Kerry were three points to the good.
It was increasingly obvious that John Quane and Jason Stokes were running out of steam at midfield. However as Kerry’s lead increased to six, Eoin Keating converted a penalty for Limerick and Gavin added a point. They failed to sustain that momentum, and O Cinneide took the sting out of the contest with three frees.

Tyrone 1-16, Galway 0-11
The doubts over the future of manager John O’Mahony and his Galway team only increased after last weekend’s comprehensive 1-16 to 0-11 loss to Tyrone at Croke Park. If their failure at provincial level was disappointing enough, this even more ineffective display in the third round of the qualifiers looks like the end of the road in more ways than one.
An emotional O’Mahony was giving nothing away after this setback, saying there would be no “dramatic decisions.” However, more and more it seems as if Galway need to freshen up their approach if they want to emulate the success of the late 1990s.
If O’Mahony has been the driving force behind the county’s reemergence as a footballing force, he now has to contemplate the earlier non-performance against Mayo with this most recent last quarter, during which his side was outscored by 9 points to 2.
If Galway had taken some early goal chances — Matthew Clancy shot wide, Derek Savage missed a penalty, and Padraic Joyce hit the post — the story might have been different, but when Brian McGuigan found the net for Tyrone, it wasn’t surprising that the losers trailed by 1-5 to 0-6 at the changeover.
Although Tyrone, who now meet the losers of the Laois-Westmeath replay in the next round, were extraordinarily wasteful at the start of the second half, but once Peter Canavan was brought on as a substitute for his first appearance in 10 months, the All-Ireland champions’ attack began to tick. Eoin Mulligan and Stephen O’Neill were causing untold problems, while Sean Cavanagh’s storming runs from midfield had the Galway defense under severe pressure.

FERMANAGH 0-18, CORK 0-12
Cork made their exit from the championship when they were upset by Fermanagh, also at Croke Park. The Ulster underdogs were convincing winners and will meet defeated provincial finalists Donegal in the next round.
If Fermanagh were inspired by the performances of Stephen Maguire, who finished with 0-6, as well as his fellow half-forwards Eamonn Maguire and Mark Little, it was Cork’s spiritless display that was the talking point.
“To tell the truth, we’re light years behind the northern teams at the moment,” selector Colman Corrigan said. “We’re going to have to readdress the whole issue. One All-Ireland title in 14 years, one All-Ireland, that speaks for itself.”
Level at 0-6 apiece at halftime, Cork soon moved into a 3-point lead, but then Fermanagh found their scoring form as James Sherry and Stephen Maguire each kicked three points to turn the game on its head.
“There’s no great plan,” manager Charlie Mulgrew said. “The fellas are prepared to work hard and basically that’s it.”

DERRY 2-16, WEXFORD 2-5
Derry, whose next opponents will be Limerick, didn’t have to work overly hard to dispose of Wexford at Parnell Park. The winners had goals from Enda Muldoon and Dominic McIvor, while Paddy Bradley kicked eight points including five from play. Once again, Mattie Forde top-scored for Wexford with 1-4.

ALL-IRELAND
QUALIFIERS
Fourth-round draw: Tyrone vs. Westmeath or Laois; Dublin vs. Roscommon; Fermanagh vs. Donegal; Derry vs. Limerick.