February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Ivan Neill
Mayo 3-13, New York 0-10
CASTLEBAR, Co. Mayo — New York’s senior football team sampled the best in Mayo hospitality all last week, but there was little evidence of this on Saturday at McHale Park, Castlebar, where the visitors suffered a 12-point defeat to the home county in the Bank of Ireland Connacht senior football championship.
Close on 5,000 people were in attendance for this historic clash, before which both teams formed a line across the pitch to be introduced to the president of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Joe McDonagh.
When the visitors return home among the skyscrapers and take time out to reflect on their not unexpected loss, they will rightly pinpoint their own basic errors as being the wasp that stung them the hardest.
Determination, fitness and teamwork were their forte, but they fell down badly in the final distribution, and gave away possession too easily to the detriment of their hopes and ambitions.
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The cost of two unforced errors were two first-half goals scored by Mayo, the second one just before the interval a real sledge-hammer blow.
It came at a time when New York, trailing by 1-4 after 17 minutes, were beginning to play with a lot more conviction and had landed three well-taken points by William O’Donnell, Pat Mahoney and David Cassidy. The fatal error occurred 50 meters from the Mayo posts when a passing movement collapsed.
The ball, assisted by the wind, was quickly moved toward the New York posts for the lively David Nestor to set up Colm McMenamon for the goal, the ball bouncing to his advantage, and he had only to nudge it into the net.
Injuries had prevented the New Yorkers from lining out at full-strength. Only Richie Purcell of the selected half-back line started and the vacancies left by the injured Donal Breslin and Owen Cummins were filled by two of the chosen forwards, Jim Donoghue and Brian McCabe.
Michael Slowey and William O’Donnell were taken off the bench to line out in attack.
Both performed well and, between them, accounted for four of the side’s 10 scores.
Richie Purcell, Owen Cummins, Jim Donoghue, Pat Mahoney and Sean Teague were others who played well for the Big Apple.
Mayo, having won the advantage of the strong wind in the first 35 minutes, got off to a great start when David Nestor, fed by a great ball from James Horan, cut in from the right to guide the ball into the net between goalkeeper Emmett Haughian and the left post.
Despite some promising movements — initiated back in their own defense — New York were delayed until the 18th minute for their opening point by William O’Donnell. By then Mayo had increased their advantage to 1-4, the points coming from David Nestor, James Horan, Maurice Sheridan and Colm McMenamon.
After 25 minutes, New York had regained some control at midfield through Pat Mahoney and Gary Dowd and successive points by Mahoney and David Cassidy in the 26th and 28th minutes raised hopes of a tight finish. Cassidy’s point was the product of a fine move initiated by Richie Purcell and moved quickly forward by Michael Slowey and Stephen Cassidy before Cassidy slotted over the team’s third point.
Trailing 2-6 to 0-3 at the break, New York resumed with greater determination and two points within the space of as many minutes by Slowey and O’Donnell rekindled New York’s hopes of pushing the host county down to the wire.
The tourists failed to keep the momentum going, however, and were swamped with a plethora of Mayo scores by Nestor, Horan (2) and McMenamon to widen the gap to 10n points with 20 minutes remaining. New York never recovered from that surge of Mayo power.
Mayo: Peter Burke, Aidan Higgins, Kevin Cahill, Gordon Morley, Fergal Costello, David Heaney, Noel Connelly, James Nallen, David Brady, Maurice Sheridan (0-5), James Horan (0-3), Colm McMenamon (1-3), Michael Moyles, Ger Brady (Claremorris), David Nestor (1-2). Subs: Brian Maloney (1-0) (for Moyles).
New York: Emmet Haughian, Gerry Kelly, Sean Teague, Neville Dunne, Jim Donoghue, Brian McCabe, Richie Purcell, Pat Mahoney (0-2), Gary Dowd, William O’Donnell (0-2), Michael Slowey (0-2), Kieran Keaveney (0-1), Kevin Lily (0-1), Stephen Cassidy (0-1), Eddie Murphy. Subs: Edmund Cleary (0-1) (for Dowd), Enda Henry (for Murphy), Joe Cassidy (for Kelly).
Referee: Seamus Prior (Leitrim).