Penalty shoot-out heartbreak for Mayo as Derry clinch All-Ireland quarter-final spot
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Only Mayo can do heartbreak like this. Throughout this extraordinary fixture they came so close. An extraordinary game in front of a 13,955 crowd eventually ended with Conor Doherty’s penalty.
Cillian O’Connor, Diarmuid O’Connor and Conor Loftus scored their spot kicks. Paul Towey and Ryan O’Donoghue missed. Successful efforts by Shane McGuigan, Conor Glass and Ciaran McFaul overcame Ethan Doherty’s wide.
It was a showing of remarkable resistance by Derry and a desperately cruel blow for Mayo who led by a point at the end of normal time only to let it slip. They demonstrated formidable spirit of their own in extra-time to force a shoot-out having fallen three points down. The end result was still absolute agony.
For Mickey Harte, the terms were immense. Had Derry burnt out in the roaring flame he ignited the moment he took over as manager? Here they reverted to the Rory Gallagher template in search of stability and much-needed control. The single long kick to their inside line in the entire first half came just before the break, a Conor Glass floater that skipped away from McGuigan and out over the sideline.
From the moment Aidan O’Shea did what Aidan O’Shea does and won the throw-in, Derry brought 15 players behind the ball and set the blanket. Tommy Conroy was bottled up after two minutes. Stephen Coen sent a kick straight over the sideline after five minutes. Sam Callinan eventually kicked Mayo’s first point with nine minutes played to cancel out Lachlan Murray’s early mark.
Murray was superb early on. He followed up a McGuigan free with Derry’s next three points to stretch the lead to three. There it stayed as Ryan O’Donoghue and McGuigan traded frees to leave it 0-6 to 0-3 at the turnaround.
Mayo’s struggles against this sort of style have been long-established. They were left frustrated by some close calls too. O’Shea seemed to be pulled down by Chrissy McKaigue yet there was no card of any description shown. A Jack Coyne short shot nearly ended in a goal after Odhran Lynch made a mess of it. A nasty clash between Flynn and Conor Doherty left the wing-forward motionless on his back but he picked himself up and played on.
That is the Mayo way. They started the first half with consecutive points through Tommy Conroy. His first was a mark laid on by Jack Carney. The second was a terrific stop-and-go that brought the stand to their feet. O’Shea had them leaping when he floored Glass while wheeling onto his left for an equaliser.
Derry did respond as Brendan Rogers and Gareth McKinless, having had two shots blocked down beforehand, found their range. Then came a bit of creativity and controversy and genius. O’Donoghue eyed a bouncing ball and elected to flick it on. That found a free Darren McHale who squared to the oncoming Tommy Conroy. McKinless penalised for a foot block and O’Donoghue slotted the penalty into the bottom left corner.
A full-length Lynch save denied Matthew Ruane another green flag opportunity in the final quarter, although O’Donoghue tapped over the rebound to make it 1-8 to 0-9.
McGuigan timed his first point from play to perfection. As the clock entered the red, there was a point between them. A lengthy delay for treatment to Diarmuid Baker followed. Mayo suddenly found themselves in familiar territory: on the verge.
Callinan had the chance to make it two. He fluffed it with a handpass attempt that went wide of the near post. Conor Glass eventually swung for a leveller. It fell short and in the ensuing chaos, the only man who stood still was McKaigue at the edge of the square. McKinless popped the ball to him, he popped it over the bar to force extra-time.
Derry rattled off three points from the same wing. Mayo managed to pick themselves off the floor. Paul Towey came off the bench to score on his left. Conor Loftus tapped over and Flynn landed a double, including a wonderful final point of the tie. It was awesome resolve. It wasn’t enough.
: R. O’Donoghue (1-4, 1-0 penalty, 3 frees); T. Conroy (0-2); J. Flynn (0-2); S. Callinan (0-1); A. O’Shea (0-1); C. Loftus (0-1); p. Towey (0-1).
L. Murray (0-5, 1 mark); S. McGuigan (0-4, 2 frees); B. Rogers (0-2); E. Doherty (0-2); G. McKinless (0-1); C. McKaigue (0-1).
: C. Reape; R. Brickenden, D. McBrien, D. McHugh; J. Coyne, S. Callinan, E. McLaughlin; J. Carney, M. Ruane; S. Coen, D. McHale, J. Flynn; A. O’Shea, R. O’Donoghue, T. Conroy.
Subs: C. Loftus for McLaughlin (half-time); D. O’Connor for McHale (53); E. Hession for Coyne (58); C. O’Connor for Ruane (67); B. Tuohy for O’Shea (70); P. Towey for Brickenden (80); M. Plunkett for Callinan (87).
: O. Lynch; C. McCluskey, C. McKaigue, D. Baker; G. McKinless, E. McEvoy, C. Doherty; C. Glass, B. Rogers; E. Doherty, E. Bradley, C. McFaul; P. Cassidy, S. McGuigan, L. Murray.
Subs: E. Mulholland for Bradley (44); D. Gilmore for Doherty, C. Murphy for Cassidy (both 67); N. Toer for Murray, R. Forbes for Baker (both 70); Baker for Forbes, Cassidy for Murphy (both 70, ET); C. Doherty for Baker (83).
: B Cawley (Kildare).