National Football League Division One, round five
Mayo 2-17 Armagh 0-22
A FOURTH defeat in five matches has left Armagh staring into a second relegation from the top flight in three years.
The Orchard county last made the drop in 2023, only to win promotion the following year and go onto lift the Sam Maguire later that summer.
Those heights seemed further away than ever in Castlebar yesterday as Mayo raced into a nine-point lead at the break and they were well worth it.
“It’s disappointing again.,” sighed Kieran McGeeney afterwards.
“Like a lot of our games we did enough to win it, but we didn’t win it. We’re missing chances, we’re missing easy scores, a breach cost us two points.
“You add these things up and it’s more ifs, buts and maybes. It’s frustrating, and it’s frustrating for the lads.
“I can’t fault them for effort or running or anything like that, but we’re missing chances.”
Jordan Flynn had the ball in the net inside two minutes after Ryan O’Donoghue’s attempt at a two-pointer and the Crossmolina man won the scramble for the break ball to fire it past Blaine Hughes in the Armagh goal.
That put the home side four points up and they stretched that to five before Callum O’Neill finally got Armagh on the scoreboard after 15 minutes.
Cian McConville, Blaine Hughes (free) and O’Neill all registered points but Mayo had eyes for bigger scores and after Flynn had landed the day’s first two-pointer, Conor Loftus, Ryan O’Donoghue and Cian McHale all got in on the act in the first half to put Mayo nine points clear.
McConville and Sam Callinan traded points before the break to ensure the home side maintained that nine-point cushion at the break.
After the opening points of the half were exchanged to no real material chance on the scoreboard, Armagh raised a couple of orange flags to get right back in it. Greg McCabe and Oisin O’Neill landed two-pointers before Tiernan Kelly and Jason Duffy scores trim the gap to just four points.
With McConville reducing the Mayo lead to three, it was time for the home side to introduce Kobe McDonald, the teenage sensation who had tormented Monaghan last weekend. McDonald was involved in a sweeping move which led to Mayo’s second goal.
He received a pass from Jordan Flynn before picking out Ryan O’Donoghue. O’Donoghue found Cian McHale who kept his cool to slot past Hughes.
McDonald got on the scoresheet himself in between Armagh points from Oisin Conaty and Cian McConville as Armagh continued to try and claw their way back into it.
They took a big step towards doing that when Oisin O’Neill landed a two-pointer which brought the contest to a one-point game.
Callinan and Mayo responded for Mayo before Oisin O’Neill and McCabe pointed for Armagh but with time ticking down, they just couldn’t find the levelling score.
With Dublin defeating Roscommon and opening up daylight between themselves and the bottom two, Armagh will need to beat the Dubs in Croke Park next time and hope to get something from their final game at home to Kerry.
Mayo manager Andy Moran was delighted with his side’s fourth win from five games, the defeat to Donegal the only blip in a promising campaign
“We probably should have been a bit further ahead at half-time with that wind, so I knew it was going to be a bit of a battle in the second half,” admitted Moran.
“We’re really happy, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.
“But in terms of showing the character you need coming down the stretch, we were delighted.”
Mayo R Hennelly; J Coyne, R Brickenden, E Hession; S Callinan 0-2, C Loftus 0-3 (1tp), P Durcan; B Tuohy 0-1, D McBrien; J Carney, R O’Donoghue 0-3 (1tpf), J Flynn 1-2 (1tp); C McHale 1-3 (1tp), A O’Shea, P Towey 0-1
Subs S Coen for C Loftus (33), S Morahan for Jack Coyne (ht), K McDonald 0-2 for A O’Shea (50), C Dawson for P Towey (56)
Armagh B Hughes 0-1f; J Duffy 0-1, G Murphy, P McGrane; R McQuillan 0-1, T Kelly 0-1, J Óg Burns; C O’Neill 0-2, B Crealey; D McMullan 0-1, C Turbitt, G McCabe (0-3 (1tp); C McConville 0-6 (0-2f), O O’Neill 0-5 (1tp, 1tpf), O Conaty 0-1
Subs F O’Brien for C Turbitt (60 mins), E Rafferty for Duffy (68 mins)
Referee D Coldrick (Meath)
