The All-Ireland football quarter-finals' status as the preferred burial site of defending champions was consolidated yesterday, as a weary Donegal were buried by a Mayo performance so vibrant it shot the county to the top of the betting lists for this year's Sam Maguire for the first time anyone could remember.
After nearly three years of intensive preparation and high-stakes matches a weary Donegal suffered systems meltdown and Mayo wouldn’t have been flattered to win by more than the 16 points that finally separated the teams.
At one stage the margin was 22, prompting the thought that maybe the Connacht championship, with its succession of double-digit victories, had been more demanding preparation for Mayo than initially realised.
If the scale of the defeat invited comparisons with Kerry’s annihilation as champions by Meath in the All-Ireland semi-final of 12 years ago, there was a wealth of statistical corroboration for Mayo’s achievement.
Cillian O’Connor struck for a second hat-trick in successive matches, while the 16-point win brought the team’s scoring difference to a staggering 61 in just four matches, including an All-Ireland quarter-final. Thirteen –13! – of their 20 players scored.
As further evidence of their domination, O'Connor didn't even get the Man of the Match award from broadcasters TV3; that went in recognition of centrefielder Aidan O'Shea's perpetual motion and his preternatural possession count of well over 30.
In the one vexatious note of the afternoon, O’Shea was sent off in injury-time for a second yellow card, having – in fairness – lived a little dangerously at times for someone who picked up his first in the 10th minute.
In a striking reversal of fortune from last year's final when Donegal had racked up 2-1 before Mayo got on the board, this time the Connacht champions had an unanswered 1-3 on the board by the end of the sixth minute.
Mayo's eagerness
The goal came from an early example of Mayo's eagerness and their opponents' blunted faculties. Eamonn McGee had a ball covered on his own end-line but under harassment from Cillian O'Connor, he lost possession to Kevin McLaughlin, who quickly fed O'Connor, who slotted home.
A mini-revival by Donegal resulted in three points being pulled back but just as a contest came into focus, it promptly disappeared again after Alan Dillon and Keith Higgins – starting as speculated on, at wing forward before Tom Cunniffe's hamstring pull forced his more orthodox relocation – combined for the latter to fist in a pass for Donal Vaughan, who nipped in to claim the ball ahead of Paul Durcan in the Donegal goal and roll the ball into an empty net.
Like all of the Mayo half backs, Vaughan used the opposition’s tendency to drop back to maintain a high attacking line and he frequently threatened, providing a scoring pass for Alan Freeman’s 26th-minute point and unselfishly drawing Durcan in the 40th minute and enabling O’Connor to walk the ball into the net.
Donegal's twin threats of Michael Murphy and Colm McFadden managed just one point from play between them and although Murphy struggled to try and inject some life into his flagging team, it was clear from an early stage they simply weren't capable of scoring at a sufficient rate to keep Mayo even within reach.
Concession
Murphy's free in the 16th minute to close the gap to five, 0-4 to 2-3, was the champions' last score for more than half an hour and by the time they resumed, the concession had pushed on to 4-12.
If the early goals made it all but certain that Mayo would win, the second-half ones ensured the outcome would be a rout.
Having benefited from Vaughan's service for the third, O'Connor completed his hat-trick in the 45th minute after Higgins's break and pass to Andy Moran allowed the captain to place the ball across goal for another gilt-edged opportunity.
Tormented beyond endurance by his inability to restrain O’Connor, Eamonn McGee found respite by stamping on a prone Enda Varley and getting a red card in the 52nd minute.
Mayo slipped into overdrive and picked off scores - the most redemptive coming when replacement Kevin Keane sallied up the field to kick a point into the Hill 16 goal that had framed his traumatic All-Ireland final last September.
Donegal managed to string together 1-2 in the closing minutes – the goal from a free by McFadden – but all that did was prevent the match going down as Mayo’s easiest.
