Mayo draw comfort from stirring comeback against All-Ireland champions
Mayo's Davitt Neary scores a goal past Armagh keeper Ethan Rafferty.
Mayo 1-17
Any doubts about the spirit or morale within the Mayo senior football team were dispelled with a stunning comeback that earned a point at the home of the All-Ireland champions on Saturday evening.
Fighting back from nine points behind in the first-half, such was the transformation in Kevin McStay’s team after half-time that they could count themselves unfortunate not to have beaten Armagh, leading as they did by two points with only three minutes left to play.
And even after being reeled in, goalkeeper Colm Reape still had a chance to win it for Mayo with the final kick of the game, but his shot from the right of the posts flew wide and both sides settled for a share of the spoils.
Brilliant contributions by Ryan O’Donoghue and Davitt Neary, who scored his first ever goal for Mayo to give real oxygen to their comeback, exemplified the possessed-like ferocity that the visitors brought to the second-half, with Matthew Ruane capping an impressive midfield display with three points from play as well.
How the Green and Red had finished out the match was at odds with an error-ridden first-half performance that saw them squander nine shots at the Armagh posts and trail 0-5 to 1-10 at half-time. Corner-back Paddy Burns was an unlikely scorer of Armagh’s goal and Rory Grugan and Conor Turbitt landed two points apiece, as Mayo struggled to contain power runners like Jason Duffy and Ross McQuillan, or to overcome the towering presence of Niall Grimley around the middle.
The introduction of Jack Carney shortly before the interval went some way to putting that right but the whole game seemed to turn on one 47th minute intervention that saw Davitt Neary track deep into his own half to pickpocket Armagh’s Jarly Óg Burns. Grimley was black-carded for taking out Neary but not before the Breaffy boy had set in train a move that saw Paul Towey kick his second point of the half. Neary dinked home an audacious goal a minute later and suddenly the gap was back to three points.
Two point scores by Stephen Coen and Ryan O’Donoghue and a point by substitute Aidan O’Shea looked like it might all help Mayo to a smash and grab win, but late replies by Stefan Campbell and Conor Turbitt, from a free brought forward 50 metres, rescued a point for Kieran McGeeney’s side.
Mayo are back in action against Kerry on Saturday next.
