It wasn't the sort of game that will live long in the memory, but that won’t be a major concern for Mayo after they ground out their first victory of the Allianz League at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park this afternoon.
Two late scores from substitutes Ryan O’Donoghue (free) and Fergal Boland were the scores that eventually broke Tyrone’s resistance and delivered two precious league points for the Westerners after back-to-back defeats against Dublin and Galway.
This was a mediocre match that never managed to raise its head above the ordinary for the most part as Tyrone crashed to their second defeat in their opening three games.
It also looked set to end in a stalemate when Cathal McShane’s free levelled the game for the seventh time with five minutes remaining.
But Mayo managed to lift the tempo sufficiently in the closing stages to kick on, with a second booking for Michael McKernan also leaving Tyrone a man down for the closing minutes.
In his absence, Kevin McStay’s team tacked on the match-winning scores from the aforementioned O’Donoghue and Boland to give the home supporters something to shout about after a long afternoon in chilly conditions.
Mayo will also be buoyed by the return to action of the likes of Jordan Flynn, Aidan O’Shea and Jack Coyne for the first time this season, while Frank Irwin (3) and Fergal Boland (2) also kicked a string of eye-catching scores.
Tyrone, on the other hand, badly missed their Errigal Chiaráin contingent again, with goalkeeper, Niall Morgan, emerging as their top scorer on the day with three points, two from play.
Meanwhile, Darren McCurry failed to score from play while Mark Bradley and Eoin McElholm were the only members of their starting attackers to raise white flags.
Despite playing with the strong wind behind them Tyrone led after a largely uneventful first half by 0-05 to 0-04.
That lead was wiped out within seconds of the restart when Jordan Flynn landed the only two-pointer of the afternoon to propel Mayo in front.
Tyrone did manage to wrestle back the initiative midway through the half thanks to a string of frees from McCurry (2) and Niall Morgan that left them 0-9 to 0-7 to the good.
But Mayo finished strongly and landed five of the last six points to escape to victory.That opening period featured long passages of possession football as both teams seemed reluctant to kick long or try and exploit the spaces created by some of the new rules.
As a result, Mayo led by 0-01 to 0-00 at the end of a disappointing opening quarter with the only score coming from Frank Irwin after two minutes.Tyrone, who were playing with the aid of the strong breeze, eventually drew level when Niall Morgan broke through to clip the equaliser from open play.
This score seemed to encourage Mayo to up the ante and they rattled off two points in quick succession from the impressive Davitt Neary and Cian McHale (free) to ease ahead.
But the momentum of the match shifted when Mayo’s Conor Reid was shown a black card by referee Barry Cassidy in the 25th minute for a 'deliberate body collide’.
With an extra man, Tyrone finally started to play on the front foot a little more and they shot four of the five points registered before the half-time hooter sounded.Brian Kennedy, Michael McKernan and Mark Bradley all chipped in with scores before Eoin McElholm cut through to put the visitors ahead for the first time in the 35th minute.
Mayo’s only response during Tyrone’s purple patch was a trademark point from Matthew Ruane six minutes before the break.
The second half played out along similar lines for the most part before Mayo’s late burst saw them engineer a result that ends a run of four successive matches without a victory.
The 2023 league champions will now travel to Armagh next Saturday evening while Tyrone welcome Kerry to Omagh on Sunday.
KEY: tp - two-point score; tpf - two-point free; tpm - two-point mark
Mayo: C Reape; E O’Donoghue, D McHugh, E Hession; S Coen, D McBrien, E McLaughlin; J Flynn (0-02, 1tp), M Ruane (0-01); C Reid, D McHale, D Neary (0-01); C McHale (0-01, 1f), F Irwin (0-3), P Towey.
Subs used: R O’Donoghue (0-02, 2fs) for C McHale (HT); F Boland (0-2) for Towey (46); A O’Shea for Neary (54, blood sub); J Coyne for Coen (59); D Neary for O’Shea (64); A O’Shea for Reid (64); S Callinan for McLaughlin (68).
Tyrone: N Morgan (0-03, 1f); A Clarke, P Teague, N Devlin; L Gray, M McKernan (0-01), R Brennan; B Kennedy (0-01), C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell, K McGeary, C Daly; D McCurry (0-2, 2fs), M Bradley (0-01), E McElholm (0-01).
Subs used: S O’Hare for Gray (HT); R Cassidy for O’Donnell (46); M Donnelly for McGeary (46); A Donaghy for Daly (59); C McShane (0-01, 1f) for Cassidy (61, inj);Referee: B Cassidy (Derry)
