Heartbreak for Mayo as Donegal's last-gasp point ends championship dreams

The Irish Sun

15-06-2025

HEARTBROKEN Stephen Rochford insists Mayo will be back after crashing out of the championship against Donegal.
Ciarán Moore's last-gasp score condemned
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Donegal's Ciaran Moore planted a last-gasp point to knock Mayo out of the Championship
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Acting Mayo manager Stephen Rochford insisted Mayo will bounce back after the heartache
With Tyrone top, Mayo were going through in third when the hooter sounded thanks to Fergal Boland's equaliser with
But Moore's kick kept Cavan in the championship instead on the head to head rule after the Breffni stunned the Connacht men in round 1.
It all seemed too cruel, but Donegal were out to win. The game went right to the wire thanks to David McBrien's second half goal as Ryan O'Donoghue starred with 0-6.
Donnacha McHugh went toe to toe with Michael Murphy before falling injured seven minutes into the second half to sum up Mayo's luck.
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Donegal's talisman was their main outlet again and kicked 0-5, but Caolan McColgan and Shane O'Donnell stepped up the mark and ran Mayo ragged.
It remains to be seen if boss Kevin McStay will return to the Mayo hotseat after stepping aside last month due to a health score and Rochford took the reins.
But the Crossmolina man is adamant they can rise again despite their earliest championship exit since their 2010 round 1 qualifier loss to Longford - but cursed their failure to win another tight game.
He said: 'I think we've shown ourselves to be competitive over the last two years. But, you know, we do need to develop a strength to us that gets us across the line. That's ultimately what we're missing just at this moment in time.
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'Even though a draw would have done both teams, I don't think either team would have been happy with a draw. And, you know, we certainly came into this with no view other than we wanted to win the game.
'There's a lot of young players in that group, a lot of players that are, you know, learning every day.
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"I think that has to be the way of it. But, you know, the likes of Conal Dawson, Sean Morahan coming in there, Jack Coyne.
'Donnacha McHugh had to go off, Davitt Neary had to go off, Enda Hession also had to go off with a hamstring injury and these are all players that we would look to have got a bit more impact from.
'But they're all young players, Enda is 25 but all those other players are 23 or less. And so, they've got bright futures ahead of them.'
A tense first half summed up what was at stake. Donegal led 0-9 to 0-6 at the break, but survived losing Peadar Mogan to a black card 10 minutes in for a trip on O'Donoghue.
The Ulster champs had most of the possession but kicked six wides in the first 35 alone, with Ciaran Thompson and Oisín Gallen both dropping short.
Mogan already had 0-2 to his name when he went off to put his team 0-3 to 0-1 ahead as Murphy played creator, but Mayo failed to make the extra man count as much as they should have.
Darren McHale and two O'Donoghue frees edged them in front, but they failed to score for the next 17 minutes.
Aidan O'Shea looked isolated inside, as O'Donoghue was well watched by Brendan McCole as Rory Brickenden did just enough to foil Eoghan Ban Gallagher when he broke through on goal.
Murphy got off the mark with a pristine two-point free when Thompson was fouled by Brickenden, before McHugh ended Mayo's long wait for a score.
Gallen was off the boil and scored his only point when Murphy fed him after their stalwart missed the target himself, but they finished the half with a flurry.
Ryan McHugh read Conor O'Donnell's run for the Carndonagh man to fire over, before Michael Langan did the same for Finnbarr Roarty to fist between the posts on the hooter.
A wonderful second half followed that was impossible to call as both teams went to war in front of 18,731.
Colm Reape denied the wonderful Shane O'Donnell a goal early doors as Mogan's two-point effort came off the post.
O'Donnell picked Murphy out for their first score of the half as Dawson nailed a sweet double at the other end, either side of a brilliant Donegal kick from Thompson to make it 0-11 to 0-10.
But war means casualties as Mayo lost McHugh and Enda Hession to injury, but kept soldiering on.
O'Donnell and Moore edged Donegal three ahead but their opponents hit back thanks to O'Donoghue's free and a whopper from Darren McHale, to take his tally to 0-3.
Then came Mayo's goal. Murphy was lining up his target with the posts in sight when Jordan Flynn stole the ball and a sea of green and red raced on the counter.
O'Shea beautifully flicked the ball to the oncoming Carney, as McBrien arrived like a rocket to smash in off the post despite McCole's efforts to keep it out.
It fired them two ahead, but Donegal responded perfectly to kill the momentum as Daire Ó Baoill nailed a two-pointer, Murphy fired over and O'Donnell did too.
Jordan Flynn kept Mayo alive but Jim McGuinness's men should have killed the game when Patton's quick restart found Ó Baoill with Reape off his line.
The Gaoth Dobhair man fed fellow sub Paddy McBrearty, but somehow Reape foiled the Donegal skipper and managed to deflect the ball off the post.
Murphy scored the resulting 45, and another massive moment followed when Patton double-saved to deny Jack Carney and Towey, and the ball was called back for a foul on O'Shea and O'Donoghue converted.
The chaos was in full flow when Boland thought he had rescued Mayo's championship, with a draw securing a home preliminary quarter-final for Donegal.
But Moore had other ideas, and showed nerves of steel to split the posts at the death and end Mayo's championship interest until next April.
DONEGAL 0-19
MAYO 1-15
DONEGAL: S Patton; F Roarty 0-1, B McCole, P Mogan 0-2; R McHugh, E Gallagher, C Moore 0-2; H McFadden, M Langan; C McColgan 0-1, C Thompson 0-2, 1f, S O'Donnell 0-1; C O'Donnell 0-2, M Murphy 0-5, 1tpf, 1 45, O Gallen 0-1.
Subs: J McGee for McFadden 52, D Ó Baoill 0-2tp for Gallen 52, P McBrearty for McHugh 58, E McHugh for S O'Donnell 67
MAYO: C Reape; J Coyne, R Brickenden, E Hession; S Coen, D McBrien 1-0, P Durcan; D McHugh 0-1, M Ruane; C Dawson 0-2, J Carney 0-1, B Tuohy ; A O'Shea, D McHale 0-3, R O'Donoghue 0-6, 5f.
Subs: J Flynn 0-1 for Tuohy 23mins; D Neary for McHugh 42, S Morahan for Hession 52, P Towey for Neary 56, F Boland for Coen 68
REFEREE: P Faloon (Down)