After the disappointment of being caught at the death by Galway in the Connacht final, Kevin McStay’s side were on a mission of redemption in front of their own fans in Castlebar.
It wasn’t quite a vintage performance but it was sufficient on the day against a side who struggled in the absence of chief marksman Paddy Lynch and kicked 12 wides compared to four for the home side.
Once Mayo went five points clear after 15 minutes there was a sense of inevitably about the outcome. Between them Ryan O’Donoghue and Cillian O’Connor scored 0-11.
An injury to team captain Paddy Durcan – who was introduced in the second half – was a major concern for the home side.
Things do not get any easier for Ray Galligan’s side who scored just three points from play. They host All-Ireland champions Dublin in two weeks’ time while Mayo face a tricky away assignment against next door neighbours Roscommon.
Scoring-wise it was all one way traffic early on with Mayo going five up courtesy of a delightful point from O’Connor followed by O’Donoghue’s first of the day after Matthew Ruane cleanly fetched a Cavan restart.
O’Donoghue’s contribution grew as he won two frees which he converted himself to extend Mayo’s lead to six while the visitors replaced full-back Killian Brady after 20 minutes.
Denn’s Oisín Kiernan did score a glorious long-range point for Cavan in the 23rd minute – their first from play – and though they had some success at securing turnovers deep in their own half, they struggled up front against the physicality of the Mayo defence.
Still, there was only four points separating the sides at the break (0-9 to 0-5) after Cavan ended the half with a flourish; after a Ciarán Brady point. Mayo failed to secure possession their own kickout and the visitors won a free which Oisín Brady converted. And they left regretting their five first-half wides compared to one for Mayo.
Cavan made their third change in personnel at the start of the second half, with Cian Madden replacing Niall Carolan, but Mayo continued to dictate the exchanges though they had only one brief moment of panic when goalkeeper Colm Reape lost possession out the field.
Mayo, however, had enough defenders guarding the goal that substitute Tiarnan Madden had to content to knock the ball over the bar.
The visitors’ finishing continued to betray their best efforts and with 20 minutes left they had a real chance of rocking Mayo, but substitute Luke Fortune didn’t realise he was unmarked and instead of catching the ball in front of the goal he fisted it wide.
With Mayo 0-16 to 0-7 ahead Mayo introduced two fan favourites, Aidan O’Shea and Durcan, in the 56th minute, which probably brought the biggest cheer from the official attendance of 9,197.
Ironically, it was Cavan who were creating the goalscoring chances, with Diarmuid O’Connor saving on the goal line from Pádraig Faulkner before James Smith finally found the net in the 60th minute after Ryan O’Donoghue had blocked a shot from Cian Madden.
But any remote chance of Cavan gaining momentum from the score was immediately killed off when O’Connor and O’Donoghue replied with Mayo points.
Mayo defender Sam Callinan was black-carded late on, but it made little difference. The home side had eight different scorers and converted all their nine first-half shots.
But the gloss of a facile win was wiped out in the last play of the game when Durcan was injured and had to be carried off as the young Mayo fans made their customary pitch invasion.
Scorers – Mayo: R O’Donoghue 0-7 (4f), C O’Connor 0-4, M Ruane 0-3, D McHale 0-2, E McLaughlin, J Carney, S Coen 0-1, C Loftus 0-1 each. Cavan: O Brady 0-5 (5f), J Smith 1-0, O Kiernan (Castlerahan), C Brady, T Madden 0-1 each.
Mayo: C Reape; J Coyne, D McBrien, S Callinan; E McLaughlin, D McHugh, S Coen; M Ruane, D O’Connor; J Carney, D McHale, J Flynn; R O’Donoghue, C O’Connor, T Conroy. Subs: C Loftus for McHugh, B Tuohy for Carney (both 49), A O’Shea for Conroy, P Durcan for McLaughlin (both 55), P Towey for Ruane (64).
Cavan: G O’Rourke; C Reilly, K Brady, B O’Connell; P Faulkner, N Carolan, C Brady; O Kiernan (Denn), C Brady; J McLoughlin, G Smith, O Kiernan (Castlerahan); C Rehill, J Smith, O Brady. Subs: T Madden for K Brady (19), L Fortune for Rehill (31), N Madden for Carolan (HT), C Reilly for O Kiernan (Castlerahan), D Lovett for Conor Brady (67).
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).
