Sligo 0-17 Mayo 1-09
Sligo, who won their first ever Connacht U-20 title last year, advanced to a final showdown with Galway next week as they recorded a deserved win over Mayo in Bekan.
The reigning champions built on an interval advantage of two points to set up a Connacht final date with Galway in Tuam next Wednesday night.
They will bid to become the first Sligo side to win consecutive Connacht titles in the same grade and with their seniors through to a provincial semi-final meeting with New York and just 70 minutes away from the All-Ireland round robin series, these are good times for the Yeats County.
It's been a bad week for Mayo and after going down to Roscommon in the senior quarter-final, they were well defeated in this one and are now without a Connacht U-20 crown since 2018.
It was obvious to their supporters at the Connacht Centre of Excellence, after the game was switched from Castlebar, that they were in trouble at the break when they turned around trailing by 0-09 to 1-04 having had the advantage of the diagonal wind in the opening half.
The Sligo full-forward line of Matt Henry, Daire O’Boyle and Luke Marren were a big threat and struck for 0-06 in that opening half.
Dara Hurley settled Mayo with a first-minute point but Sligo made quick ball count and hit for three points in as many minutes from Marren, Ronan Niland and Henry before Mayo senior Bob Tuohy responded with a good score.
An excellent passing movement which included Tuohy, Tom O’Flaherty and James Maheady ended with Fenton Kelly fisting home a goal to lead by 1-02 to 0-03 at the end of the opening quarter.
Tuohy and O’Flaherty added points either side of another effort from Henry, but the the reigning champions took over and hit five points without reply in the closing 10 minutes of the first half.
Wing-back Rossa Sloyan went forward to shoot two of them while Marren added a free, and O’Boyle and Henry again hit the target.
Mayo ended the half with 14 men when captain Sean Morahan picked up a black card when he pulled down Sloyan and they turned around trailing by 0-09 to 1-04 at the interval.
Dylan Walsh of Sligo and Mayo’s Dara Hurley exchanged points in the early stages of the second half, but Sligo took over and got a big dividend when they moved the ball quickly and they shot seven points without reply to lead by 0-17 to 1-05 after 50 minutes, with the starting full-forward line of Marren, O’Boyle and Henry finishing with 0-10, seven of them from play.
Midfielder Kelly did most to rally a Mayo comeback as he shot three points but they couldn’t get the goal they needed to mount a serious comeback.
Sligo could afford not to score in the closing 15 minutes, including added time, and still not be seriously threatened as they had built a sufficient buffer to ensure safe passage to the final against Galway next Wednesday.
Sligo: Ethan Carden; Ross Chambers, Conor Johnston, Luke Casserly; Dylan Walsh (0-02, 0-01 ’45), Dylan McLoughlin, Rossa Sloyan (0-02); Conor Sheridan, Canice Mulligan; Mark McDaniel, Ronan Niland (0-02), Ross Doherty; Luke Marren (0-04, 0-03f), Daire O’Boyle (0-02), Matt Henry (0-04). Subs: Dillon Walsh (0-1) for McDaniel (42), Ciaran O’Reilly for Sloyan (55), Brian Byrne for Sheridan (55), James Kiernan for Doherty (65).
Mayo: David Dolan; Cian McHale (Parke Keelogues Crimlin), Sam Callinan, Ciaran Boland; Paul Gilmore, Sean Morahan (C), Conal Dawson; Bob Tuohy (0-02), Fenton Kelly (1-03); Cathal Corless, Tom O'Flaherty (0-01), Jack Fallon; Cian McHale (Bohola Moy Davitts), James Maheady; Dara Hurley (0-02). Subs: Ryan Fadden (0-01) for Fallon (44), Finbarr McLoughlin for MacHale (Bohola Moy Davitts) (49), Dara Joyce for Corless (50), Adam Beirne for Hurley (61).
Referee: Michael McGirl (Leitrim).
