A solid and professional performance saw Mayo pick up a 13-point win against London at McGovern Park on Saturday afternoon and ease into a Connacht SFC semi-final.
The hosts can be pleased with their performance as they kept pace with the strong favourites for a while before the gulf in quality between Division 1 and Division 4 ultimately proved decisive.
Despite playing into a stiff breeze after Mayo won the toss, the game's scoring was opened by London's Joe McGill, who slotted his free over in the second minute, which was answered by debutant Cian McHale, who claimed the first two-pointer of the 2026 Championship a couple of minutes later.
Kristian Healy would draw the Exiles level, but by the 10-minute mark Mayo had a three-point lead thanks to Jack Carney and McHale, who kicked another two-pointer.
London were doing their best to keep pace with the visitors and looked lively in attack. Full-forward Shay Rafter added two points, one from play and another from a free.
As the game opened up, Mayo pushed on with a brace of two-pointers, the first coming from Paul Towey and the second from Ryan O'Donoghue, before two frees from McGill saw London reduce the defecit.
It was Andy Moran's side that finished the half strongly however. An O'Donoghue point, a 45 from goalkeeper Rob Hennelly, and two more orange flags courtesy of the aforementioned O'Donoghue and Carney, ensured Mayo retired to the dressing room with an 11-point advantage.
London had a big mountain to climb in the second half and they made the perfect start when Micheal O'Reilly burst through the Mayo defence and found the net to raise a green flag.
That seemed to focus the Mayo minds as they responded through O'Donoghue and Paddy Durcan and would ultimately control proceedings for the majority of the second half.
McGill and Rafter would offer London some respite, but the difference in quality was telling. By the time Durcan scored his second point of the afternoon, Mayo were 12 points up and were already thinking of a provincial semi-final.
Inside the final 10 minutes, further points from McHale, Hennelly and substitute Jordan Flynn increased that lead even further.
To their credit, London never threw in the towel and centre-forward Jim Davis finished with a hat-trick of two-pointers coming down the stretch to put a better gloss on the scoreline.
The final act fittingly came from player of the match O'Donoghue, rounding off the scoring as Mayo passed the first test of their championship summer comfortably and advance to take on the winners of the Roscommon v New York clash.
London: Andy Walsh; Daire Rooney, Matt Moynihan, Sean O'Donoghue; Ciaran McKeon, Conor Goggin, Conor O’Donohue; Liam Gallagher (Captain), Daniel Clarke; Josh Obahor, Jim Davis (0-6, 3tp), Kristian Healy (0-1); Micheal O’Reilly (1-0), Shay Rafter (0-3, 0-1 1f), Joe McGill (0-5, 0-3f)
Subs: Finbarr Crowley for Conor Goggin (50’), Nathan Feeney for Daniel Clarke (50’), Liam Murphy for Ciaran McKeon (56’), Marc Friel for Daire Rooney (60’), Ciarán Gaughan for Conor O’Donohue (64’)
Mayo: Rob Hennelly (0-2, 1f); Jack Coyne (Captain), Rory Brickenden, Fenton Kelly; Sam Callinan, Michael Plunkett (0-2, 1tp), Paddy Durcan (0-2); Bob Tuohy (0-1), David McBrien; Jack Carney (0-3, 1tp), Ryan O’Donoghue (0-11, 0-4f, 1 tpf, 1tp), Hugh O’Loughlin; Cian McHale (0-6, 2f, 2tp), Aidan O’Shea, Paul Towey (0-2 1tp)
Subs: Tommy Conroy (0-1) for Paul Towey (46’), Jordan Flynn (0-1) for Hugh O’Loughlin (46’), Cillian O’Connor for Aidan O’Shea (56’), Stephen Coen for Michael Plunkett (60’), Diarmuid O’Connor for Jack Carney (61’)
Referee: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon)
