In the first of four games being played at the Jones’s Road venue this weekend to trial potential rule changes for Gaelic football, Mayo duo O’Shea and Jack Carney created a slice of history by registering a four-point goal and a two-point score from play in the second and 12th minutes respectively.
Corner-forwards Daire Cregg and Diarmuid Murtagh had recorded a brace of white-flag efforts prior to the latter score, and while Kevin Quinn finally got Leinster up and running, Murtagh and O’Shea also found the target from long distance to move Connacht into a 13-point lead as the first of four quarters came to an end at GAA HQ.
Despite Dublin duo Paddy Small and Ciarán Kilkenny kicking fine points for Leinster on the resumption, a variety of scores from Fergal Boland, goalkeeper Connor Gleeson, Donie Smith and Conor Cox left Connacht 18 points in front at the interval and in complete control.
Another experimental rule was on display at the start of the second half when Small split the uprights after opting for a ‘solo and go’ from an attacking free, but a goal at the opposite end by Leitrim’s McNulty helped Pádraic Joyce’s men to reinforce their authority.
While Louth star Ciarán Byrne did his utmost to get Leinster back into the reckoning with a four-point haul in as many minutes, Connacht kept the scoreboard ticking over through Cox and Sligo’s Cian Lally.
This left Connacht with an unassailable 19-point advantage heading into the final quarter, and even though the tireless Byrne rattled the net for Leinster during this period, Murtagh and London’s Gallagher raised green flags to ensure the western province emerged as emphatic winners.
SCORERS – Connacht: A O’Shea 1-3 (2pt); B McNulty 1-1 (1f); C Murtagh, L Gallagher 1-0 each; D Murtagh 0-4 (2pt, 1f); F Boland 0-3 (2pt); C Gleeson (2pt f), J Carney (2pt), D Cregg (1f), C Cox 0-2 each; D Smith (f), C Lally 0-1 each. Leinster: C Byrne 1-4 (2pt); K Quinn (2pt), P Small 0-2 each; K Feely, C Kilkenny, E Porter 0-1 each.
CONNACHT: C Gleeson; J McGrath, B Stack, S Mulkerrin; C McDaid, J Daly, E McLoughlin; J Carney, J Maher; M Tierney, B Tuohy, E Smith; D Murtagh, A O’Shea, D Cregg. Subs: C Carroll, R Fallon, M Diffley, J Heaney, S Cunnane, U Harney, B McNulty, C Cox, D Smith, C Murtagh, D Duffy, F Boland, P Spillane, C Lally, L Gallagher.
LEINSTER: S Cluxton; C Lennon, M Bambrick, E Murchan; J Small, R Wallace, J McCarthy; R Connellan, D Healy; C Downey, C Kilkenny, B Howard; M Barry, D Flynn, K Quinn. Subs: K Roche, S Bugler, C Byrne, P Cunningham, R Dunphy, K Feely, D Gallagher, R Houlihan, R Jones, D Keoghan, P Kingston, E O’Carroll, L Pearson, E Porter, P Small.
REF: M McNally (Monaghan)
