The rain fell by the bucketload in Gaelic Park, New York, this afternoon but the miserably wet and cool conditions did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the huge crowd – the bulk of them from Mayo – crammed into the Bronx venue. Many of them had been there for hours by the time this match got underway. Once it did –following a minute’s silence for the late, great Eugene McGee and the rendition of both the Irish and American National Anthems – it was a contest that the League champions smothered in short order.
We made one change to the team named in advance, with Colm Boyle starting instead of Chris Barrett at corner-back. Four minutes passed before the game’s first score arrived, Evan Regan knocking over a free at the Broadway end to get us going.
Debutant James McCormack doubled our lead with our first from play and soon after captain Paddy Durcan blasted over when we claimed possession from the restart.
New York had continual problems with their kick-outs in the early stages but, fortunately for them, we had roughly equal trouble in the shooting department. A succession of balls won in the middle led to a number of spurned scoring chances for us.
Another Evan Regan free increased our lead to four. Then a nice move initiated by Aidan O’Shea led to our next score. Aidan found Jason Doherty who offloaded to Matthew Ruane, with the Breaffy player feeding Evan Regan who shot over.
Another layoff by Aidan saw Fergal Boland open his tally with a sweet outside of the boot effort. As the scores continued to be spread around, the next point was another debutant one, coming courtesy of James Carr.
We kept driving at them. The next attack saw Jason Doherty in on goal, the New York keeper parrying his shot over the bar. Then Lee Keegan lashed over our ninth unanswered point with an outside of the boot effort from distance.
Kevin McLoughlin took us into double digits with our next effort at the posts. Seconds later the Knockmore man knifed through again and knocked it over.
Evan Regan, with his fourth, and Jason Doherty, with his second, pushed us further clear in a competition that was already resembling a training session. Then Fergal Boland fisted over before, with 30 minutes on the clock, Offaly native Luke Kelly finally opened the home team’s account with a well-taken point from play. The same player bagged their second a few minutes later.
Darren Coen notched our fifteenth point after that, which meant that all six starting forwards had now scored from play. Then, on the stroke of half-time, Evan Regan put the contest to bed by finding the net. The Ballina player’s first shot was saved by Vinny Cadden but he made no mistake with the rebound.
1-15 to 0-2 down at half-time, there obviously was no way back for New York from there. Indeed, it could have been far worse for the hosts at that stage, as eight of our lads shot a total of eleven wides in the opening half.
Early in the second half we made our first change, with Ciaran Treacy making his Championship debut as he came on for Jason Doherty. We opened our second half account when a Colm Boyle shot was deflected out for a ’45 and Robbie Hennelly trotted upfield to ram over the placed ball.
We began to run the bench in earnest now. David Drake and Michael Plunkett – the latter making his first Championship appearance – joined the fray, replacing Keith Higgins and Lee Keegan respectively. The Ballintubber man quickly marked his debut with a point from play.
New York’s frustrations grew as we attacked again, James Carr getting hauled to the turf by Michael Creedon. The New York player was already on yellow and should really have walked but Conor Lane decided on this occasion to keep his cards in his pocket. Evan Regan popped over the resulting free.
Another debutant was sprung from the bench, with Conor Diskin getting his first taste of Championship football, Darren Coen making way. It was another newbie, though, Ciaran Treacy, who bagged our next score, a nice one from distance. This one came after the Yanks had notched their third score of the game, once again from Luke Kelly.
We had our 21st point on the board – with Stephen Coen and Andy Moran having come on by now – before the home team got their fourth score, this one a point by Tiernan Mathers. We added one more for the road, as we ran out the easiest of winners by a not at all flattering twenty-one point margin.
So a facile win it proved to be in the Bronx for us. The lads did everything right to ensure that this happened, by coming out of the blocks with the right intensity and running up a big score before New York managed to raise a flag at the other end at all. That was exactly what we needed to do to quench any hopes the home team may have had of making a contest out of this game.
The fact that we had so much elbow room to play with by half-time meant that the bench could be run to the full after the break. With the intensity levels having dipped significantly from the first half, it wasn’t exactly a white-hot environment in which the three lads made their Championship debuts in the second half but it was still great to see Ciaran Treacy, Michael Plunkett and Conor Diskin get their first taste of action at this level. Their introduction brought to six the number of players we gave Championship debuts to today, a further sign of how James is moving rapidly to deepen his playing panel.
There’s now a gap of just under three weeks – with a short Stateside training camp to come before the squad heads home – before our next Connacht Championship match, in which we’ll face the winners of the Roscommon/Leitrim game. That’s sure to prove a stiffer test than the one the lads dealt with in such a trouble-free manner at Gaelic Park today.
Mayo: Robbie Hennelly (0-1, ’45); Colm Boyle, Brendan Harrison, Keith Higgins; Paddy Durcan (0-1), Lee Keegan (0-1), James McCormack (0-1); Matthew Ruane, Aidan O’Shea; Evan Regan (1-5, four frees), Jason Doherty (0-2), Fergal Boland (0-4); Kevin McLoughlin (0-2), Darren Coen (0-1), James Carr (0-2). Subs: Ciaran Treacy (0-1) for Doherty, David Drake for Higgins, Michael Plunkett (0-1) for Keegan, Conor Diskin for Darren Coen, Stephen Coen for Ruane, Andy Moran for Carr.
Who was our Man of the Match against New York?
- Evan Regan (37%, 269 Votes)
- Fergal Boland (20%, 146 Votes)
- Aidan O'Shea (12%, 87 Votes)
- Matthew Ruane (4%, 29 Votes)
- Paddy Durcan (4%, 27 Votes)
- James McCormack (4%, 26 Votes)
- Lee Keegan (3%, 20 Votes)
- Jason Doherty (3%, 19 Votes)
- James Carr (2%, 18 Votes)
- Colm Boyle (2%, 14 Votes)
- Kevin McLoughlin (2%, 14 Votes)
- Darren Coen (1%, 9 Votes)
- Andy Moran (1%, 9 Votes)
- Brendan Harrison (1%, 8 Votes)
- Ciaran Treacy (1%, 8 Votes)
- Robbie Hennelly (1%, 6 Votes)
- David Drake (1%, 5 Votes)
- Stephen Coen (1%, 4 Votes)
- Keith Higgins (0%, 2 Votes)
- Conor Diskin (0%, 2 Votes)
- Michael Plunkett (0%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 549
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Nobody left in the county/Ireland to comment ?And I have to admit I’m jealous of them all.
Hope all who travelled had a great weekend and safe trip home
The lads did what they had to do and more
The training camp will bring them on a bit more
Can’t wait for McHale pk
I’m still here! It was woeful shite tho no use to our bucks. Sorry for NY to have slipped so far
I think Lee might have scored a point ?
Who pays for or how is this trip to New York paid ? New York deserve alright to play in the championship but it must take an enormous amount of cash to fly the whole mayo panel and backroom team over, accommodate and feed them and I’m sure there must be an expenditure allowance given to the group as well.
Well, they’ve done their job well today and hopefully they get to enjoy.the remainder of the trip.
I live in NY and have been waiting for this game for over a year now. Waited on line at 7:15 AM just to make sure I got in. It was an absolute blast. The crowd was tremendous.
Players were wonderful at the end too for the NY fans. I got to have a lovely conversation with James Carr, as he and I are both named James Carr. What a wonderful young man.
To all of the Mayo fans, you are the best. My only regret is this was the first time I got to see this team in action after following them for so long. Glad to have been a part of their first victory of this Championship run. Safe travels home to all who came
There’s something about this weekend. We thought we had gone to high levels in terms of support and the entire thing.
When thousands of Mayo people stop Time Square singing the Green n Red of Mayo to me it says we’re not going to be stopped in bringing home Sam within the next few years.
We’re 8/1 for Sam, I actually see us staying around that level and lower for the next number of years.
We really haven’t seen anything yet in terms of the squad depth coming down the track and the facilities available to prepare our teams.
Unfortunately the weather impacted on everything. It was very cold and wet and people were happy to get away afterwards.
No problem at all getting in…so much for the ticket issue.
I
MayoinNY, it was a pleasure to queue with you and those other brave souls in the rain, and great to see high skill levels in the ladies and development squad matches before the main event!
Expected hammering not sure what to take out of games like that. ANew York didn’t even play challenge games to prepare for this encounter. Other years they played Cavan,Donegal and Corofin in challenges and it showed today.
Game didn’t sell out could easily have held 7,000 the nonsense rumours on social media probably turned a few away from the game. Shocking weather for the game didn’t help either. So its the Rossies in MacHale Park or Leitrim in Carrick for Mayo next. Wouldn’t rule Leitrim out looking at the way Div 4 London put it up to Galway today.
Both American AND Irish anthems before the game ? Where was the British anthem before the London v Galway match ?
– Won in 2nd gear against a woefully poor NY
– I would have liked to see Coen and Carr contribute more to the scoreboard as this is the easiest match they will have in 2019.
– 18 wides tell you we wasted a lot of possession and some of them were bad.!!
– Fair play to the NY GAA they ‘packed’ everyone in .
– Highlights were the singing in Times Square, the Porshe with the Mayo flag driving through Times Square and the horse drawn carriage driver shouting up Mayo in a strong Mayo accent in central park
– The subway packed with singing Mayo fans on the way back from the match was another highlight.
– Hope the fan who was a little worse for wear and had to be hauled back from falling out the door when the train stopped on numerous occasions knows that he contributed to the entertainment of the Mayo masses….
Great credit to all Mayo people who travelled here to New York for what was a poor match but I think this mayo team showed plenty of class and one has to be hopefull for the months ahead I enjoyed the trip very much as did everyone else. Up mayo
Rain didn’t help but the set up out there today was beyond woeful!! I’m not sure what they meant by ‘come out early for the entertainment’ cause there was NONE, not as much as a flipping boom box. The grounds were in a mess from where building was knocked (& not just because of rain). It was pure money grabbing & they knew the Mayo crowd would come anyway. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough & most there were the same.
Rory Dolans on McClean Ave?m, now that was a different story – what a set up, packed to rafters with extra bars set up & plenty of staff / made up for the shsmbkes in Gaelic park.
@Mayomagic, I wouldn’t rule out a trip to beautiful Carrick on Shannon either, whatever happens I intend to be there, the New York Match being something of an exception for me, concidering that I wasn’t there for a Championship game.. I voted for the MotM award, based only on Marty Morressy commentary on RTE radio, so I can’t really say that my opinion was very objective, and so as I could see how the actual Vote was going… It’s really frustrating listening to the Radio.. TnaG4 are showing highlights @ 8pm Mayo time, 3pm New York time… I have a feeling that the game I imagined in my mind’s eye, from listening to the Radio will be quite different to what the actual TV footage show’s… Hope that the Lad’s have a great training week in the US, and hopefully they will get to enjoy some of sights and the social side as well, just a little! . I’m pretty sure ‘The Green and Red of Mayo’ is being belted out with gusto, by the ever increasing multitude of Mayo as I write, in more than one of New York’s “Speakeasy’s ” … where you have to speak easy but sing loud.
Killed the game early and took no chances. Totally eased off in the second half and didn’t try to murder a clearly inferior NY team.
No serious knocks that we’re aware of. That’s a decent days work.
Onto the training camp.
18 wides?? Wow.
Some amount of wides kicked ,that’s a worry , doesn’t make a difference who the opposition is a wide is a wide and furthermore you’d imagine new York defence wouldn’t be near as intense as teams we play next.
How did the fundraiser go does anyone know ? Think that’s the most important aspect of the trip .
Quite a high proportion of our wides were from defenders and midfielders. We need to be more deliberate about putting our better shooters on the ball in space facing goals.
These games always have huge amounts of wides because lads chance their luck from daft positions. It’s not worth worrying about in the same way as its not worth getting excited about kicking 1-20 odd.
Team selection for next round will be fascinating.
When is Cillian available ,he did tog for Ballintubber a couple of weeks ago ,came on towards the end ,scored too. He wasn’t on the bench last night , did he travel over ?
I’m all for the guys to back themselves when it comes to shooting, with that, they will be wides. However, our % conversion is too low. It was too low against Kerry in the league final and it was too low yesterday. Our ability to score freely up front is the big question mark going forward.
Anyway, it sounded like fun over there if not a little wet. Isn’t it great the team get to have two away camps!!!
The Mayo team are great ambassadors for our county and I think the spirit of New York will be with them for the rest of the championship..
Having kicked so many wides against inferior opposition will focus both team and management on the work to be done yet.
So much competition for places nowadays, everyone has to be on their toes.
Starting 15 against Roscommon will be interesting and bench players likely to have big impact on result
@ontheditch. i wouldnt rule out Leitrim’s chances against Roscommon just yet. Theyve improved a lot in the last year and Ros are no world beaters. Either way we should have the beating of whoever comes through. Mchale park hasnt exactly been a happy hunting ground for the Rossies in the last few decades.
Move on nothing to see here, the team did what was necessary and thankfully none of them picked up any injuries. The wides can safely be placed into the excuse basket, after all they had to travel to New York, play on an artificial surface in a downpour against a team who were barely worthy of sharing the field with a team of mayos calibre which resulted in a game where the focus and intensity ordinarily required in an opening championship game was absolutely absent as a result of the almost instant realization that NY were toothless and unable to compete even at Mayos lowest cruising altitude.
Next team up will be a different event entirely but I don’t expect either option of opponents to catch ye, after that game the battle drummers will be instructed to get into formation and and sound the rhythmic beat of the battle drum, this will not cease until you either lift Sam or are defeated at one of the last two bridges as I think ye will be semi finalists this year, after that destiny is in their hands. One lingering concern I have with mayo is that ye had Kerry on the ropes for the entire second half and despite your clear advantage all could have been lost were it not for a fortunate save. In saying that I think mayo are probably the biggest danger to the dubs 5 in a row and I hope ye prove me correct. Safe home to all
Is there any danger at all especially from a team at stage one of developing new players . Dublin blew us out of the water in our most recent encounter , Galway beat us also with both now having our number these last few years .
Horan has taken this term for four years not two or three as far as I can recall , that all points to a building for the years ahead, add in the new facilities for the future , the whole buzz surrounding this fundraising drive , commercial manager etc . All I’m saying is I think the plan is more long term than short term .
After Dublin it s , Tyrone , Galway , Donegal and Kerry. Mayo are just floating below that pack at present imo even with the league title .
Galway are favs, though it Wouldn’t be a massive shock to win Connacht but I’d be shocked if we progressed to a final . Would I be correct in saying you could end up with Dublin in croker, Tyrone in Omagh and Donegal in Castlebar in the super 8 as Connacht champions?
I believe Horan wants to go all the way this year (well as far as we possibly can, and that can be all the way to the final stages). Nothing I have seen suggests otherwise to me. I am not on the side of the fence that suggests he is only interested in building. Look at the way stalwarts like Keith Higgins have been playing this year already, or Aidan O’Shea or indeed the comments of Lee Keegan. That suggests a team interested in getting wins.
For me, and it is only a hunch, it is Tyrone that we have to look out for. They have had the taste of a final last year, were disconcertedly beaten at semi-final stage the year before. They’ll have a final in their sights again this year. And they beat Dublin with an efficient style of football this spring. We would do well to watch out for them especially. If Mayo get their act together in preparation for Connacht, I would hope we could regain our title there. We’ll have to see. Nothing is a given.
It is all and absolutely step by step by step. At this point in time, I do hope we start to gradually start to hone our shooting and scoring. This for me is crucially what we need to have success at the final stages of the Championship this year. Maigh Eo abu!
Our U20s beat Donegal 4-9 to 2-9 in the 1st round of their pre season competition. The team is up on Mayo GAA Twitter.
Thanks Wide Ball. I had a look and in my view it is the strongest team we have had at U21/20 since the 2016 U21s, I think actually a stronger team than the 2016 u21s if I factor the 2016 U21s down a year of maturity and compare 15 v 15.
Encouragingly there are a core of U19’s well placed to be the senior players at U20 in 2020.
Hi Jp, I’m very interested by those comments regarding this years u20 panel being as strong as 2016s all Ireland winning u21 team. First of all that 2016 team won a minor all Ireland in 2013. The older players of this years u20 team got knocked out by Galway in the first round also it will be hard beat last year’s team but I hope I am Wong. Great start for them today onwards and upwards
@Highball, I’ll post a more extensive post later but in my view Mayo since 2015 minors have not had a linear connection to u21/20 and senior success.
Mayo have Fionn McDonagh, James Carr and James McCormack all playing senior football quite well from the minor 2015 panel.
The 2016 minors made the final of the u20.
The 2017/18 minors are playing good football and many with senior clubs.