Eddie Kinsella seems to have created a new black card offence
The fog may have threatened to call halt to the clash in Castlebar between Mayo and Tyrone but the game did go ahead and despite being played on a very heavy pitch it turned out to be a cracker.
Aidan O’Shea replaced his brother Seamus from the off and he was a central figure to the home side around the middle as Sean Cavanagh moved out from his role at full-forward to negate his influence. In a very even first half Tyrone led by 0-8 to 0-4 as their forwards looked to be a more cohesive unit. The visitors continued to lead after the break and were given a massive boost when O’Shea was black-carded for an incident with Niall Moran when trailing by 0-10 to 0-5.
The midfielder did appear to jump into the goalkeeper when trying to block down a clearance, but it was more likely a yellow card rather than black card offence.
He was replaced by Barry Moran and within minutes Mayo had the ball in the Tyrone net to reduce the deficit to just two points – also in controversial circumstances. Cillian O’Connor tapped home after a tackle on Moran saw the Tyrone goalkeeper spill the ball before a goalmouth scramble, with Tyrone protesting he was in the square before the ball came in.
However Tyrone responded within seven minutes and Peter Harte finished off a flowing move to restore their lead as they powered on for a 1-11 to 1-7 victory.
