The stiles men had a comparatively quiet day at McHale Park in Castlebar yesterday. World Cup action on television could not be blamed for the meagre crowd of around 6,000 who watched as Mayo contrived to reassure their loyal supporters that there can still be bright days ahead this summer.
The home team's attractive 20 points tally seemed incongruous in a match that lacked quality football and got bogged down too often by petty fouling and stoppages. Kildare referee Michael Monahan booked nine players but it was far from being a dirty match.
Roscommon were tenacious to the last man, a fact that was duly reflected in the way they went about cutting back the arrears in both halves. They eventually lost their grip in the closing minutes when the Mortimers, Conor and Trevor, along with David Tiernan cut loose to notch four unanswered points in something of a grand -stand finish.
Roscommon manager John Tobin, who had arguably the best forward on the pitch in Nigel Dineen, will not decide on his future with the losers until later. Only last week he was appointed Connacht's chief coaching officer and does not know if coaching Roscommon as well would be feasible.
Mayo took advantage of the strong breeze in the first half and seemed on course for building up a substantial interval lead before Dineen struck twice for opportunistic goals.
"We gave away two goals," was Mayo manager Pat Holmes' view on Dineen's scores. "It meant that we dropped six-point leads and were due to face the wind in the second half with only a three-point cushion."
Tobin was worried about his team's attitude and their persistence in playing the short ball, especially when favoured by wind advantage in the second half.
"Mayo were the better team," he said. "We did ourselves a lot of harm by not playing more direct football when only two points down and with wind advantage in the second half."
"They kicked some magnificent points," conceded Tobin. But no matter what they tried it was always going to be difficult for Roscommon to break down an excellent Mayo defence and more precisely, a cast-iron half-back line of Alan Roche, James Nallen and Aidan Higgins.
And the enterprise of the tirelessly energetic right half forward, James Gill, who was often seen helping out in defence, was typical of Mayo's strong will to win.
Commenting on his team's tally of 20 points, Holmes noted: "We have not got to prove to anyone that we have the players in the county who can take quality scores. Our young players coming through from the under-21s promise a bright future for football in the county."
Roscommon were always ready and able to take advantage of any slip-ups by the fancied home side. Brian Maloney and James Horan should have had Mayo two goals up in the opening minutes but the speedy Maloney over-carried and Horan, a late call-up, opted for a point with a shaky Shane Curran at his mercy.
They began to rue those missed chances when Dineen came in on the end of a Gerry Lohan and Jonathan Dunning move to bury goal number one. The ever-dangerous Dineen cracked home his second just on half-time.
A disillusioned Mayo retired to their dressing-room for the break feeling that they should have had a cushion of nine points at least. Instead they led by 0-12 to 2-3.
The best of Mayo was to follow with a number of astute switches and changes. Their roller-coaster display as they moved to the 20-point mark was impressive to behold.
Holmes' hopes for a bright Mayo future lie with the promise the younger set has brought to the team. "I was worried at half time with only three points to spare but I was pleased the way the team, inspired by the older players, reacted to playing into the wind.
"Twenty points is a great championship tally by any standards. The side worked as a team in that second half and created the chances with great guile and composure. It was heart-warming from a manager's point of view to see the ball hoisted at the Roscommon posts with such confidence," added Holmes.
Tobin agreed: "The quality and consistency of the Mayo points suggest to me that they can go a long way this year."
Tobin was also impressed by the cool and solid nature of the Mayo defence that had come in for criticism earlier this year.
Tobin's main disappointment was with his own link players who he maintained would have achieved much more with early ball into the forwards when wind-assisted in the second half.
HOW THEY LINED OUT
MAYO: 1 P Burke; 2 R Connelly, 3 T Nallen, 4 G Ruane; 5 A Roche, 6 J Nallen, 7 A Higgins; 8 D Tiernan, 22 S Trench; 10 J Gill, 11 M Moyles, 12 T Mortimer; 13 J Horan, 14 B Maloney, 15 C Mortimer. Subs: D Brady for S Trench (half-time), D Heaney for T Nallen (half-time), C McManaman for Moyles (42 mins).
Booked: A Roche, S Trench, D Tiernan.
ROSCOMMON: 1 S Curran; 2 I Daly, 3 A Nolan, 4 M Raftery; 5 A McPadden, 6 P Noone, 7 D Casey; 8 S O Neill, 9 C Coneeley; 10 G Cox, 11 G Lohan, 12 J Hanly; 13 N Dineen, 14 S Lohan, 15 J Dunning. Subs: D Casserly for Coneeley (22 mins), J Nolan for Daly (42 mins), J Tiernan for Hanly (43 mins), F O'Donnell for Casserly (52 mins), F Dolan for Cox (59 mins).
Booked: M Raftery, A McPadden, S O'Neill, S Lohan, D Casserly, P Noone.
