Allianz National Football League Division One: Mayo 0-15 Armagh 1-10
TWO points and the confidence-boost of beating Mayo slipped away as Armagh lost composure in the closing stages of a nip-and-tuck clash at ‘The Hyde’ yesterday.
The Orchardmen had a dream start but a nightmare finish, collapsing down the straight and losing by two points after Mayo kicked the last five scores of the game.
After a draw against Monaghan last time out, manager Kieran McGeeney rang the changes and the most notable of them was a debut in goal for former midfielder/full-forward Ethan Rafferty.
The Grange clubman’s performance was one of the positives McGeeney picked out but he was desperately disappointed with his team’s failure to close out the game.
“We gave away a three-point lead and they weren’t even putting us under any pressure, it was just our stupid passing,” he said.
“We weren’t under any pressure, but we just gave the ball away – fist-passing to a Mayo man, dropping ball, kicking ball away… It was very annoying.
“We were sitting well there with the wind at our back and we just gave the ball away so it’s just disappointing, we tried hard but our decision-making was very poor.”
Mayo’s win means they keep pace with Kerry at the top of the table. Meanwhile, Armagh drop to third after taking one point from their last two games.
“It was two points that got away,” said McGeeney Armagh who lost defenders Aaron McKay and Aidan Forker to injury in the second half but expects both to be fit for next weekend’s clash with a Kildare side that beat Dublin yesterday.
“We’re trying to learn and that is probably the disappointing thing, we made some really poor decisions.
“We’d runners off the ball, fellas taking shots from silly angles and that decision making - that’s what we have to learn because in championship that pressure is on all the time we just have to learn how to make those decisions properly.
“I would say you have to learn how not to beat yourself, you’re giving the ball away under no pressure. It’s unusual but Mayo stepped off us probably because of the breeze and we were sloppy in possession but that’s a mental thing you learn - you have to keep sharp in yourself.
“It’s different when someone is putting you under pressure, that can be a skill thing but that’s just a going-to-sleep thing.”
McGeeney’s men haven’t mastered Mayo’s handy knack of finishing strongly and pulling results out of the bag. Against Monaghan at Clones that trailed until the closing stages but won by two points and they did the same yesterday.
“We got the two points and we’ll take that,” said manager James Horan.
“We were very slow to move the ball in the first half. They gave us short kick-outs and dropped men back and we played into that and it took us a long time to get shots off.
“We just had a bit more energy in the second half and some of the subs who came in made a huge difference to the game.
“We were getting stronger as the game went on but we gave away some ridiculous scores even in the second half when we were caught out of position. So lots to learn – it a dramatic win again but it’s not the way you’d like to win.”
