Doherty double shoots Mayo to victory

Galway 0-12 Mayo 2-14

Galway 0-12 Mayo 2-14

Newcomer Jason Doherty scored a goal in each half to power Mayo past arch rivals Galway in Tuam this afternoon.

The Burrishoole clubman opened up the home defence in the 23rd minute to drill to the net. Mayo led by 1-07 to 0-07 at half-time.

Kevin McLoughlin and Aidan Campbell kicked points and Mayo were 2-13 to 0-07 ahead after Doherty's second goal.

Sean Armstrong, Cormac Bane and Joe Bergin pointed late on for Galway, who remain bottom of the Division 1 table.

The eight-point reversal continues Galway's poor start to the Allianz Football League under Tomas O Flatharta. As against Down last weekend, the Tribesmen got off to a positive start.

Mayo, who lost to Kerry seven days ago, had a good deal of possession in the opening minutes but lacked the necessary penetration. Missed frees and tame shoots were frequent for both sides.

Joe Bergin kicked the first of Galway's points in the seventh minute, and two more from Cormac Bane - one of them a free - had the home side leading by 0-03 to 0-00 in the 12th minute.

In sunny conditions, Mayo reeled off two quick points from free-taker Alan Dillon, who finished with 0-05, and Andy Moran. But their defence soon gave way when Armstrong played in Danny Cummins and Mayo net minder Robert Hennelly denied him with a superb save at close range.

The resulting '45' was converted by Armstrong, who traded frees with Dillon soon after. Ronan McGarrity and James Kilcullen won their fair share of possession in midfield, and Mayo were beginning to find their rhythm when Campbell had a stinging shot tipped over for a point.

Doherty's first goal arrived just a couple of minutes later. The corner forward picked up a pass from Kevin McLoughlin 40 metres out from goal and with the Galway defenders sitting off him, soloed straight through on goalkeeper Padraic Lally who was beaten was a low driven shot.

It gave Mayo the lead for the first time and a Dillon free, won by Doherty, put the margin out to three points. James Horan's men maintained that lead up to the break, as scores from Armstrong and Bergin were cancelled out by McLoughlin and Dillon.

Galway had a second sighting of Hennelly's goal in the final minutes of the half, but substitute Eoin Concannon crucially lost his footing when he went to shot goalwards.

The competitive edge was sapped out of the game in the second half though, as Galway struggled. They conceded 1-06 without reply and had to wait until the 57th minute to post their eighth point through Armstrong.

Doherty was fed by Chris Barrett, who had brought the ball out of defence, and made a good angle for himself to beat Lally for the second time, in the 46th minute. Before the goal, McLoughlin, Campbell and Dillon had stretched Mayo's advantage to six points.

Doherty then brought his tally to 2-01 and Campbell and the impressive McLoughlin fired over again to leave O Flatharta's side with a 12-point deficit, and Mayo coasting to their first league victory.

Armstrong stopped the rot and a final point for Mayo from Aidan O'Shea was followed by three more from Bane, including two from play, and another from Bergin. But this local derby had been long decided by that stage.

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