James Carr bagged two goals as Mayo reached the Super 8s for the first time following a memorable derby win over Galway at the Gaelic Grounds.
Galway finished with 12 players after Ian Burke was sent off and John and Michael Daly were black carded in added-time, but a late Shane Walsh goal from a free wasn’t enough for the Tribesmen.
Liam Silke had missed a penalty after 53 minutes, while Cillian O’Connor’s six points were key to the win.
After a dream opening 25 minutes Mayo held an eight point lead, with Carr’s double strike the big difference between the sides.
O’Connor started the scoring with a second minute free, which was added to by Kevin McLoughlin straight away, but Carr’s first goal in the sixth minute really rocked Galway and underlined Mayo’s dominance. A Darren Coen shot dropped well short, but Bernard Power fumbled and Carr crashed the rebound to the net.
Galway managed to settled a bit when Gary O’Donnell and the excellent Peter Cooke kicked points, but after Carr was allowed a 50 metre run from the right wing he buried a shot into the top corner to give Mayo a 2-2 to 0-2 lead.
The Galway full back line was in ribbons at that point, and after he was surprisingly left out of the side, Sean Andy Ó Ceallaigh was called upon to plug the leaky rearguard. Things improved after his introduction, but Galway also dropped a little deeper at the same time.
Finally after a timid start there was some fire in Galway’s challenge. Cooke kicked two great points either side of a Cillian McDaid score, but with O’Connor tagging on the frees with regularity at the other end Mayo maintained their healthy lead.
With Paddy Durcan doing a brilliant man marking job on him, Shane Walsh’s first point of the game didn’t arrive until a minute from the break, but after Darren Coen hit back at the other end following a sweeping move, a Walsh free hit the post and Mayo held a 2-7 to 0-7 half-time lead.
The arrival of Damien Comer for the second half produced a huge roar and it only took him 20 seconds to make an impact, but after he swung a fist at a long ball he too rattled the post.
The Coen brothers, Darren and Stephen, did find the target for Mayo though, with a couple of excellent points from play, and after Shane Walsh converted a free from outside the 45, Jason Doherty kicked a booming point from long range to put Mayo 2-10 to 0-9 ahead after 45 minutes.
That gap was down to six and Galway responded well to the penalty miss with the next three scores to close to within three points, but Darren Coen and O’Connor ended Mayo’s 17-minutes scoreless streak to clinch the win.
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