Young James Carr was the two-goal hero as Mayo defeated neighbours Galway by 2-13 to 1-13 in Limerick to seal their place in the Super 8s.

It’s the sweetest of victories for the national league winners, who had lost their last seven outings against the Tribesmen but were by far and away the better team at the Gaelic Grounds today, progressing to the Super 8s for the first time. This was the first-knock out game between these two sides since the 1999 Connacht final, which Mayo also won, and in truth they were much more dominant tonight than the final scoreline suggests.

The winners advance to Group One of the Super 8s, joining Kerry, Donegal and the winners of tomorrow’s fourth and final Round Four Qualifier meeting of Clare and Meath. Mayo’ll travel to Killarney next Sunday to take on the Munster champions in their opening fixture in the new-look expanded quarter-final series.

Carr goals in the sixth and ninth minutes ensured the Green & Red of a 2-7 to 0-7 lead at the end of an energy-sapping first half where Mayo absolutely thundered into the action in front of a boisterous crowd of 19,183.

Setting off at a rip-roaring tempo, James Horan’s men got off to a flying start with two points inside the opening two minutes. The returning Cillian O’Connor opened the scoring from a free and Kevin McLoughlin followed up with the second Mayo point off the outside of this left boot.

In the sixth minute, a handling error by goalkeeper Bernard Power – a late addition to the Galway starting team – after the outstanding Darren Coen’s attempt for a point dropped short, culminated in a speculative goal being scored by Ardagh ace Carr, who read the situation well and took his goal gratefully.

Incredibly, just three minutes later, after the beaten Connacht finalists had opened their account via captain Gary O’Donnell and the impressive Peter Cooke, Carr, making his first championship start, foraged a magnificent solo goal, the youthful No.20 bursting through the statuesque Galway defence from the right wing and blasting a right-footed rocket to the top left corner of the net at the city end following a blistering 40-yard run – 2-2 to 0-2.

Mayo made two late changes to their starting team, Donal Vaughan and Carr coming in for Michael Plunkett and Ciaran Treacy respectively, while Power, Eamon Brannigan, Sean Kelly and Declan Kyne replaced Ruairi Lavelle, Sean Andy O Ceallaigh, Tom Flynn and (surprisingly) Antaine O Laoi in the Tribesmen’s starting XV.

Cooke’s second excellent strike had the gap back to five points after ten breath-taking minutes but O’Connor’s second and third converted frees ensured the rampant Mayo men of a seven-point lead at the midway stage in the first half, 2-4 to 0-3.

Ten minutes from the break, O’Connor swept over his third successive free as the margin rose to eight, the former two-time Young Footballer of the Year taking a pass from Coen to fire over a point from play off the outside of the boot (his fifth) after Cooke had delivered his third at the other end.

Centre back Cillian McDaid and Cooke – with his fourth, off the outside of the boot – clawed Galway back within six, but Mayo still led by double scores with half an hour played, 2-6 to 0-6.

As Galway grew into the game, Shane Walsh slotted a free a minute from the break – their third successive score – but the outstanding Coen replied with a delightful curling effort at the other end, assuring his side of a six-point interval advantage.

Mayo's James Carr celebrates after scoring a goal against Galway. ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne.

Having closed the first-half scoring, Coen also arced over the first point after the resumption, making it double scores, Stephen Coen’s strike on 41 minutes nudging the gap out to eight, 2-9 to 0-7.

Walsh’s next free was superbly cancelled out by Jason Doherty, Brannigan thumping over Galway’s ninth point in the eleventh minute of the second half followed by a Michael Daly score as the Tribe eased within the two goals of their opponents again with 51 minutes gone, 2-10 to 0-10.

The momentum was with Galway and, in the 53rd minute, Ian Burke had a point for the taking but went for goal and was taken down by Chris Barrett, resulting in a penalty, which Liam Silke took only for David Clarke to dive down low to his left and make a telling save.

Still, Walsh drilled over the ‘45’ and Brannigan punished a poor restart by quickly nailing a fourth consecutive point for Kevin Walsh’s charges, who suddenly seemed to have bundles of energy. Within seconds of entering the fray, Kieran Molloy expertly dispatched the next Galway point but up popped Darren Coen at the other end with a timely Mayo strike, putting an end to Galway’s five-point scoring sequence, 2-11 to 0-13.

O’Connor smashed over a thumping free from distance off the outside of his foot six minutes from the end to steady Mayo a little further and – storm weathered – Vaughan was content to take his point first-time on 68 minutes as James Horan’s spirited charges re-established their six-point cushion.

The losers were reduced to 14 men on the stroke of 70 minutes when Ian Burke received a black card and therefore a red one to go with his earlier yellow, but Galway grabbed a possible lifeline when Burke drilled a free low through a forest of defenders to the back of the net in the fifth of six minutes of injury time.

Two late black cards for the Daly brothers Sean and Michael, with the full quota of subs used up, saw the losers finish the game with just twelve men on the field … but those dozen Galway men probably didn’t want to be there either when the final whistle sounded and the Mayo supporters' greeted a first competitive win over the Tribesmen in three years.

Mayo - D Clarke; C Barrett, B Harrison, K Higgins; P Durcan, C Boyle, D Vaughan (0-1); S Coen (0-1), A O'Shea; F McDonagh, J Doherty (0-1), K McLoughlin (0-1); C O’Connor (0-6, 4f), D Coen (0-3), J Carr (2-0). Subs: C Treacy for K McLoughlin, E Regan for J Carr, L Keegan for F McDonagh, M Plunkett for J Doherty, E O’Donoghue for P Durcan, S O’Shea for D Vaughan.

Galway - B Power; E Kerin, D Kyne, L Silke; G O’Donnell (0-1), C McDaid (0-1), J Daly; S Kelly, M Daly (0-1); P Cooke (0-4), S Walsh (1-3, 0-2f, 1'45), J Heaney; E Brannigan (0-2), M Farragher, I Burke. Subs: SA O’Ceallaigh for E Kerin, D Comer for S Kelly, A O Laoi for M Farragher, T Flynn for C McDaid, K Mollloy (0-1) for J Heaney, A Varley for E Brannigan.

Referee - J McQuillan.

Tweet

Most Read Stories