Mayo survive late Louth surge in Castlebar

All Ireland Series Round 2

Mayo 0-14

Louth 1-10

Michael Gallagher in Hastings MacHale Park

Mayo secured the second win of the All-Ireland series when a late Louth surge came up just short in sun-drenched Castlebar.

The home side looked comfortable when Fionn McDonagh put them five points up in injury time but a cracking Conall McKeever goal followed by a well-hit point from Conor Grimes left just a sliver between them at the end.

The first half was a battle of wills with Louth looking to stifle the Mayo flow and the home side probing for openings through the red wall. Both sides were relatively happy at the interval - Mayo enjoyed a three-point lead, 0-7 to 0-4, and Louth were still well in contention.

Mayo started well and were three points clear after four minutes when Colm Reape, Jack Carney and Ryan O’Donoghue all raised white flags, The home side showed great mobility with positions and jersey numbers meaningless. Donnacha McHugh, Jack Coyne, Jack Coyne and their defensive colleagues were as likely to pop up in front of the Louth goal as their own.

McBrien had a goal effort saved by James Califf after 15 minutes following fine play from O’Donoghue, Carney and Aidan O’Shea.

That was the the only sniff of the net the home side enjoyed in the first half and for long periods they lived outside the scoring zone as Louth packed the area in front of the posts.

At the other end, Louth’s chances were limited due to their conservative approached and aggressive Mayo tackles. This yielded just one point from play courtesy of Conor Grimes, while Sam Mulroy and Ciaran Downey contributed from set-pieces.

The second half was a continuation of the chess match with Mayo looking to attack while Louth clogged up the middle and broke out when the opportunity arose. This approach created a glorious goal chance for wing-back Leonard grey after 40 minutes but he shot over the bar under pressure from Reape.

At the other end, a rare goal chance went badly abegging when James Carr failed to find O’Shea with a pass after 51 minutes. Louth never lost touch but the introduction of Paddy Durcan, Tommy Conroy, Enda Hession and MacDonagh gave the home side new impetus and gradually the lead stretched to five in injury time. However, the guests weren’t finished and McKeever’s goal set nerves jangling before Grimes lashed over a point in the final play of the day.

MAYO: C Reape (0-1f); J Coyne, D McBrien, S Callinan; P O’Hora, C Loftus, S Coen (0-1m); M Ruane (0-1), D McHugh; J Doherty, J Carney (0-1), J Flynn (0-1); A O’Shea (0-4f), J Carr, R O’Donoghue (0-3, 2f)

Subs; P Durcan (0-1) for Doherty, T Conroy for Carr, E Hession for Callinan, F McDonagh (0-1) for Flynn, B Tuohy for Coyne 

LOUTH: J Califf; B Duffy, P Lynch, D McKenny; L Grey (0-1), N Sharkey (0-1), A Williams; T Durnin, C Early (0-1); C McKeever (1-0), C Downey (0-2, 1m), C Grimes (0-2); C McCaul, S Mulroy (0-3f), C Murphy

Subs; C Lennon for McCaul, L Jackson for Williams, R Burns for Lynch, P Mathews for Murphy

Referee: N Mooney (Cavan)