Mayo pegged back by Armagh in bruising encounter
Five points in a row coming down the stretch – including three in injury time – earned Armagh a point at home to Mayo in Division 1 of the Allianz National Football League today, the game finishing 0-17 apiece in Box-It Athletic Grounds.
Mayo's 0-17 to 0-12 lead on 67 minutes looked likely to secure them both points on offer from this league encounter but a Rian O'Neill-inspired Armagh had other ideas.
O'Neill's free in the eighth minute of added time made it 0-17 each, and in that late period of dominance Armagh were unlucky not to find the net as Andrew Murnin had two decent chances.
In the first of those, the ball went just wide off his back as he rose with Mayo 'keeper Colm Reape to contest a high delivery from Aidan Forker. Later, a good move left him with a chance in front of the Mayo posts but Enda Hession made a desperate lunge to divert the ball out for a 45', from which O'Neill pointed to make it 0-16 to 0-17.
O'Neill himself was fouled for the equalising score and all told, the draw was probably the fair result following a bruising encounter in Armagh city.
Mayo, however, will be disappointed that they didn't close the game out having had that five-point advantage with normal time almost up.
Trailing by two at half-time (0-6 to 0-8), Mayo were much brighter in the second half and won a lot of ball off Ethan Rafferty's kick-outs, Aidan O'Shea really coming into his own in those early stages of the new half. A run of five points without reply in 10 minutes (from the 42nd to 52nd minutes) gave them a 0-13 to 0-10 lead, and you sensed that had Jordan Flynn's shot for goal with 15 minutes to go not been cleared off the line, the Green and Red would have returned west with both of the league points available.
In the first half, Mayo found it difficult to break down Armagh's massed, compact defence. The home side made better use of less possession and some fine efforts from O'Neill, Murnin, Conor Turbitt and Rory Grugan had them ahead by double scores (0-8 to 0-4) with the regulation 35 minutes played.
For all that, Armagh could have been behind at the break. The impressive Jordan Flynn landed a much-needed score for Mayo in injury time and Cillian O'Connor, on as a blood sub for James Carr, could have goaled from the resultant kick-out as Rafferty mistakenly played the ball straight to him. Opting to take the shot at the open goal quickly, O'Connor's effort didn't dip fast enough. Still, the point left just two between the sides, and that gave Mayo some pep going in at the interval.
They knew they could do better and for large periods of that second half they did, with some fine scores landed by Carr, O'Shea, O'Connor (now on as a sub) and Matthew Ruane.
When a Colm Reape free made it 0-17 to 0-12 on 67 minutes, it very much felt like Mayo had the win in their sights. Armagh thought otherwise, however, and fought back valiantly to make their point.
Armagh: Ethan Rafferty; Aaron McKay, Aidan Forker, Ross Finn; Paddy Burns, Barry McCambridge, Jarly Óg Burns; Connaire Mackin, Stefan Campbell; Jemar Hall, Rory Grugan (0-4, 2f), Tiernan Kelly (0-1); Rian O'Neill (0-6, 4f, 1 45'), Andrew Murnin (0-3), Conor Turbitt (0-3).
Subs used: Ross McQuillan, Niall Grimley, Jason Duffy, Callum Cumiskey.
Mayo: Colm Reape (0-1f); David McBrien, Rory Brickenden, Jack Coyne; Stephen Coen, Conor Loftus, Enda Hession; Matthew Ruane (0-1), Aidan O'Shea (0-2, 1m); Jack Carney, Bob Tuohy, Jordan Flynn (0-2); Fionn McDonagh (0-1), James Carr (0-1), Ryan O'Donoghue (0-7, 6f).
Subs used: Cillian O'Connor (0-2), Eoghan McLaughlin, Darren McHale, Conor McStay, Donnacha McHugh.
Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford).
*See Tuesday's print edition of The Connaught Telegraph for more match coverage