Mayo breeze past poor Roscommon

Dominant Mayo simply breezed into the provincial decider. Goals from Aidan Kilcoyne, Pat Harte (penalty) and Aidan O’Shea helped them race into a 3-10 to 0-01 lead at half-time.

Conor Devaney registered Roscommon’s only first half point from a free but Mayo were too far in front, with Alan Dillon pulling the strings.

The Rossies saved some pride with late points from Donie Shine, Gary Cox and Karl Mannion.

Mayo signalled their intent on reclaiming the Connacht title they lost last summer to Galway, as they impressed in their new-look surroundings at McHale Park.

John O'Mahony's charges were in stunning form as a shell-shocked Roscommon were left trailing in the hosts’ wake in a very one-sided opening half.

Roscommon manager Fergal O'Donnell was dealt a major blow before throw-in with the news that Senan Kilbride had failed to recovery sufficiently from an ankle injury sustained in the quarter-final win over Leitrim. Cathal McHugh took his place.

Mayo were simply on fire in the opening stages and had 3-08 on the scoreboard before Roscommon could even draw breath.

All of this came inside the opening 24 minutes with Aidan Kilcoyne and Alan Dillon the commanders-in-chief in the Mayo attack.

Kilcoyne had 1-01 on the board for Mayo inside the opening four minutes, with Aidan O'Shea and Barry Moran instrumental.

Knockmore clubman Kilcoyne powered home a fourth minute goal, slipping the ball under goalkeeper Geoffrey Claffey after good work from O’Shea.

Pat Harte, who tucked away a perfectly-placed penalty on 12 minutes, and Aidan O'Shea, who bulged the net after Alan Dillon laid the ball off, ensured Mayo's hat-trick was completed inside 22 minutes.

The in-form trio of Kilcoyne, Dillon and Trevor Mortimer all added points.

Mayo were evidently clinical in attack and they were lording it in the midfield sector with David Heaney and Ronan McGarrity on top.

Mayo led by 3-07 to 0-00 following O'Shea's goal, with a Ronan McGarrity point pushing the gap out to 17 points.

Roscommon's lone score of the opening half arrived through a converted Devaney free after 26 minutes.

They did engineer a goal-scoring chance but Mayo stopper Kenneth O’Malley reacted well to deny Paul Kelly from close range.

Roscommon were only outscored by two points in the second half, with Donal Shine, Karol Mannion and Gary Cox among the scorers.

Devaney got the second half off to a bright start, with the first score after the interval - another pointed free.

However, in reality, the damage had been done in the opening half, at the end of which some Roscommon supporters headed for the exits.

The result means Mayo will progress with confidence to the Connacht decider, but both their management and players would have preferred a tougher test with either or champions Galway their opponents on July 19

MAYO: K O’Malley; D Vaughan, G Cafferkey, K Higgins; P Gardiner (0-02), T Howley, A Moran (0-01); D Heaney, R McGarrity (0-02); P Harte (1-01), T Mortimer (0-02), A Dillon (0-06, 0-03f) ; A Kilcoyne (1-03, 0-02 ‘45), B Moran, A O’Shea (1-00).

Subs used: T Parsons for Heaney (53 mins), C Mortimer for Kilcoyne (63), M Ronaldson (0-01) for Harte (67), K McLoughlin for Vaughan (68), BJ Padden for Dillon (69).

ROSCOMMON: G Claffey; P Domican, J Nolan, P Kelly; S McDermott, D Flynn, D Casey; M Finneran, B Higgins (0-01); G Cox (0-02), K Mannion (0-01), D Shine (0-01); C Devaney (0-02, 0-02f), C McHugh, J Dunning.

Subs used: P Gleeson for Flynn (41 mins), J McKeague for Kelly (43), F Cregg for Finneran (45), D O’Gara for McHugh (50), P Duignan for Nolan (51).

Referee: Brian Crowe (Cavan)