Agony in Omagh as Mayo edged out by Red Hands

Mayo have suffered their second championship defeat of the summer and now enter last chance saloon after an agonising one point defeat away to Tyrone on Sunday afternoon, 0-22 to 1-18. The Green and Red will rightly feel sore about the result, with a second-half point awarded to the home side appearing well wide of the target and the match-winning two-point free struck by Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan arguably awarded in the wrong direction by referee Brendan Cawley.

Ultimately, however, Mayo were left to rue scoring only one of numerous goal chances and it perhaps should have never come down to substitute Aidan O’Shea kicking a late equalising opportunity short into the arms of Morgan.

The visitors also paid the price for not coping with the impact made by the aforementioned McCurry. His disputed point included, the 45th minute substitute gave Mayo captain Jack Coyne a torrid time and raised six white flags in a blistering 20-minute period.

Played in glorious conditions at O’Neill’s Healy Park, the sides had been level on eight occasions before a 53rd minute goal by Darragh Beirne potentially put Mayo in the driving seat, as the Connacht men led 1-14 to 0-15. But Tyrone had already produced last-ditch blocks to deny substitute Paul Towey and Darragh Beirne before that, with Beirne also thwarted by scrambled defending in a first-half that saw Jordan Flynn blast a shot straight at Morgan.

Flynn blazed another goal chance over the crossbar in the 58th minute and the game was still all-square in the 67th minute when Sam Callinan opted to fist Mayo back in front, when a definite goal chance existed.

Callinan’s might have been the sensible option but Niall Morgan kicked an equalising ’45 before what looked like a charge into a Mayo defender by Tyrone wing-back Michael McKernan, resulted in ref Cawley awarding the free to the hosts. There was nothing straightforward about Morgan firing over from outside the arc on the left wing and while Mayo worked themselves a chance to draw level in the final seconds, O’Shea was unable to mark his 101st championship appearance in heroic style.

Mayo now await Monday morning’s preliminary quarter-final draw where they will be drawn home or away against either one of Kerry, Dublin or Meath.

See Tuesday’s Western People for full coverage.