Mayo survived a late push from Sligo in Castlebar this afternoon to move into the semi-finals of the Connacht senior football championship.

It finished 2-20 to 2-17 at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, where goals from Ryan O’Donoghue and Aidan O’Shea, along with six Darren McHale points, proved crucial for the home side as they avoided an early championship upset.

O’Donoghue, who finished with 1-4, lashed in his goal in the sixth minute to surge Kevin McStay’s side 1-1 to 0-2 in front and they’d go on to up their advantage to six points prior to the scores of Pat Spillane, Alan McLoughlin and Niall Murphy cutting Sligo’s deficit back to three (1-8 to 0-8) come the interval.

The hosts made the perfect restart that saw O’Shea hitting the Yeats men’s net and, after a Dylan Thornton point a minute later, the favourites looked poised to pull away.

However, Luke Towey’s palmed goal in the 38th minute was perfectly timed for Sligo and, while Mayo did push out to a nine-point lead at one stage, a Cian Lally goal kept the visitors firmly in the hunt.

Two-pointers from McLoughlin and Murphy kept the heat on Mayo down the home stretch, but they’d be able to see out the win by three points in the end and book a provincial semi-final date with Leitrim in two weeks’ time while Sligo are now bound for the Tailteann Cup.

Mayo advance to the Connactht Senior Football Championship Semi final after a 3 point win over Sligo

We will take on Leitrim in a fortnight time 💪 pic.twitter.com/d2xORGEFet

— Mayo GAA (@MayoGAA) April 6, 2025

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