Photo: Mayo Mick

This truly was one for the hard-core fraternity – a dead-rubber FBD clash with the Rossies on a January day when temperatures struggled to get above zero. It was, however, a contest that brought a decent enough crowd to Ballyhaunis this afternoon – so much so that @MaigheoforSam was complaining on Twitter afterwards about how heavy the traffic was leaving the ground – with those who made it to the game getting to witness a dour, tight struggle that ended with the spoils being shared.

We started brightly in the cold conditions today, Aidan O’Shea marking his first outing for the county in 2013 by knocking over the day’s opening score straight from the throw-in.  Jason Doherty and Seamus O’Shea added points from play to send us into an early three-point lead before the Rossies hit back with points from Donal Keane and Donie Shine (a free).

Photo: Mayo Mick

Keith Higgins broke upfield to restore our two-point cushion and Alan Murphy – getting a first start for the county today – followed up with a pointed free to put some daylight between the teams for the first time.

The lead didn’t last long, however, as the Rossies quickly hit us with 1-2 without reply – Cathal Cregg getting the goal (“a total fuck-up at the back” according to PJ) – to claim a two-point lead. Sheamie then bagged his second point of the day to leave us one adrift at the break.

Aidan O’Shea started the second half for us like he did the first, with his second point of the day pulling us level right from the restart. We made three changes early in the second half, in addition to an early first half switch which had seen Chris Barrett (who was named to start but didn’t, Colm Boyle lining out instead at wing-back) replace Shane McHale. In came Barry Moran, Brian Gallagher and Michael Conroy in place of Seamus O’Shea, Jason Doherty and Lee Keegan.

Photo: Mayo Mick

It was the visitors who kept forcing the pace after the break, with points from Donie Smith and Michael Finneran pushing them two clear once again. We then made our fifth switch of the day, Tom Cunniffe coming on for Ger Cafferkey, and soon after Donal Vaughan cut the gap to the minimum.

The Rossies kept the pressure on with another point from Cregg pushing them two clear once more. A second FBD defeat in a week looked to be on the cards at that stage but then Alan Murphy ensured that his debut would be a memorable one, as he shot over two late frees to secure a 0-10 to 1-7 draw.

Photo: Mayo Mick

According to PJ (my eyes and ears at the ground once more – I didn’t get off the couch today I have to confess), this was a match where the result seemed to be of far more importance for the Rossies than it was for our lads. He was impressed with the visitors’ workrate and he felt they were a little unlucky to have came away from the contest with just the draw.

We seemed a bit lethargic, by contrast, but the fact that today’s match was our third inside a week makes it little surprise that we hit precious few high notes at Ballyhaunis this afternoon. There’ll be plenty of time for flowing football before the year’s football is over.

So that’s the 2013 FBD campaign done with and as we’re not involved in the final – congrats, by the way, to Sligo and Leitrim for making it to what will be a novel FBD decider – we now have a fortnight off before the Kerry lads come to town and the opening shots in this year’s League campaign will be fired. That should make for a far livelier encounter than this afternoon’s pre-season joust with the neighbours did.

Mayo: David Clarke; Ger Cafferkey, Shane McHale, Keith Rogers; Keith Higgins (0-1), Donal Vaughan (0-1), Colm Boyle; Aidan O’Shea (0-2), Seamus O’Shea (0-2); Kevin McLoughlin, Richie Feeney, Lee Keegan; Alan Murphy (0-3, frees), Alan Freeman, Jason Doherty (0-1). Subs: Chris Barrett for McHale, Barry Moran for Seamus O’Shea, Brian Gallagher for Keegan, Michael Conroy for Doherty, Tom Cunniffe for Cafferkey.