Shocking. Disappointing. Horrendous. Maddening. Unbelievable. Sad.
Mayo find the back of the Donegal net – again.
Donegal fans can pick any one of a dozen words to describe their team’s performance against Mayo at Croke Park today after they were beaten on a final scoreline of 4-17 to 1-10.
Jim McGuinness might have flagged up Mayo as a danger team but he didn’t expect them to steamroll over his team in the All-Ireland quarter final.
The one image that summed up today’s game was the sight of Donegal fans leaving twenty minutes before the final whistle.
But the truth is that the game was over at half-time with a stunning 12 point lead.
Four times Paul Durcan was beaten – a fact that will haunt the big Four Masters man for the rest of his career.
But it certainly wasn’t the goalkeeper’s fault for a team display that was lacking everything from imagination to heart.
Mayo literally peppered the Donegal goal with goals and points as Donegal to give them a footballing lesson.
All around Croke Park, Donegal were beaten to the ball.
Mayo scored from every angle and have wasted few scoring chances.
Jim McGuinness made two late changes with Mark McHugh beating all the odds to start while Karl Lacey didn’t make the starting fifteen.
Almost 50,000 have piled into Croke Park for a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final.
But what they have seen so far is certainly not a reflection of last year’s game as Mayo tore Donegal apart from the backline to the frontline.
Cilian O’Connor opened the score for Mayo with a calmly taken point after just a minute.
Just a minute later Ballintubber man Alan Dillon added a second when he scored from long range.
Paddy McBrearty
Cillian O’Connor stuck the knife into the Donegal defence when Eamon McGee was disposed and O’Connor slotted home form close range.
In just six minutes Mayo had opened up a six point lead when Alan Dillon scored again for Mayo.
Donegal composed themselves a little more with twoscores to make it 0-6 to 0-2 for Mayo after 8 minutes.
Frank McGlynn was left struggling when Aidan O’Shea caught him in the chest – getting the Mayo man a deserved yellow card.
Mark McHugh shot wide a couple of times when he perhaps should have scored.
Michael Muprhy cecrased the lead to three points when he scored a point after Rory Kavanagh was fouled.
But disaster hit Donegal in the next passage of play when Paul Durcan was beaten to a fifty fifty bouncing through ball by Donal Vaughan who netted to give Mayo their six point advantage again.
Murphy pulled another point back with a free after Colm McFadden was fouled.
Alan Dillon scored a fine point in the 20th minute to put six points between the teams again.
Karl Lacey was drafted in for Anthony Thompson on 23 minutes as McGuinness sought to give his team some form of fluidity.
But Mayo answered with another fine point to stretch the lead to seven points a minute later.
Donegal were officially in trouble when Matthew Ward another another to put eight points between them.
Alan Freeman found another score as Mayo began to make it look easy to make it 2-7 to 0-4.
Kevin McLaughlin could have netted yet another only for an outstretched leg from Mark McHugh as Donegal’s forwards were left all at sea.
Mayo pushed it to an eleven point lead with another point in the 34th minute.
O’Carroll could have netted even another goal when O’Carroll hit
Colm Boyle managed another point to put a margin bigger than Mt Errigal between the sides at half time.
Seamus O’Shea grabbed the first point of the second half to make it a very unlucky thirteen points between the sides after 38 minutes.
It was OVER as a contest when Mayo rattled the Donegal net for the third time as they stretched up a sixteen point lead.
Actually you can make that a seventeen point lead.
It was hard to take your eye off the game – in case Mayo scored again.
And they did. In the 44th minute they managed to unlock the Donegal defence yet again as Mayo found the net again.
The leading margin is now an incredible 20 points as Donegal have not scored from play for more than 35 minutes.
With 25 minutes to go Donegal fans were already leaving the ground to make the long trip home.
David Walsh scored only Donegal’s second point form play in the 48th minute.
And when you thought things couldn’t get worse Eamon McGee was red-carded.
Enda Varley added another point as Mayo manager James Horan began to throw on some subs to give some players a run.
If the truth be told he could have thrown on the Mayo minors and they still would have held this huge leading margin.
Mark McHugh scored Donegal’s sixth point in a rare fluid passage of play but in the next move Kevin Kane went up the pitch for Mayo and scored again.
At this stage Mayo had ELEVEN different scorers.
Karl Lacey added another but Mayo were already thinking of the semi-final against Tyrone at this stage.
Colm McFadden drilled the back of the Mayo net in the final minute for the last score of the game to make it 4-17 to 1-10 for Mayo.