Mayo minors outclassed by Armagh
The Mayo team pictured before their All-Ireland MFC Semi-Final. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
A miserable weekend for Mayo football was compounded when the Mayo minors were beaten 0-16 to 1-6 by an excellent Armagh side in the All-Ireland semi-final this evening in Longford.
It was the Green and Red who had the dream start after 49 seconds. After corner-back Conor Coghill turned the ball over in the middle of the field, he played in Andrew Quinn and the corner-forward thundered his shot into the top corner of the net.
Armagh should have levelled after a long ball in Daithi O’Callaghan but his shot on the edge of the square cannoned off the woodwork.
A brilliant free 30 metres out from near the sideline by Kobe McDonald extended Mayo’s lead before Eoin Duffy got Armagh up and running from a placed ball on 10 minutes.
Loughran and McDonald exchanged scores before Armagh hit three on the spin through Eoin Duffy, Diarmaid O’Rourke and an Eoin Duffy mark to draw level, while Fionn Toale saw a big goal chance crash off the crossbar.
Oisin Deane stopped the rot for Mayo but Armagh finished the half strongly through another Diarmaid O’Rourke point and one from James McCooe. McDonald’s third point on 24 minutes levelled it and that’s the way it would stay until half-time, 1-4 to 0-7, but Armagh were dominating all aspects and only one winner was looking likely.
Six points on the spin through Loughran (three), Eoin Duffy, Daithí O’Callaghan and Fionn Toale had the Ulster side in full control and they would see the second half out with relative ease.
A stunned Mayo would score only two points in the second half but chances of a second goal never looked likely, and a pair of points by Aaron Garvey and one from O’Callaghan capped off a wonderful display for Armagh, who will now meet Derry in the All-Ireland final.
