Mayo survive late Louth fightback to make it two wins from two
LOOKING AFTER IT: Matthew Ruane of Mayo celebrates after kicking a point during the All-Ireland SFC Round 2 match against Louth at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Mayo were hugely relieved to escape to victory in their first championship clash with Louth for 73 years at a scorching Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar.
The raging hot favourites eventually laboured to a one point win after a late goal from Louth’s Conall McKeever and a point from Conor Grimes saw the rank outsiders come up just short.
Mayo were a pale shadow of the team that had beaten All-Ireland champions Kerry two weeks ago and they struggled to shake off their visitors all through a match that never sparked to life in front of a crowd of 11,347.
Kevin McStay’s charges had led at the end of a lacklustre first half by 0-7 to 0-4 and they were still three points in front after 55 minutes — thanks largely to a good save by Colm Reape to push Leonard Grey’s goalbound effort over the bar.
But the arrival of substitutes Paddy Durcan, Enda Hession, Tommy Conroy and Fionn McDonagh brought pace and energy to Mayo’s play and a string of scores from Durcan, Aidan O’Shea (free) and McDonagh pushed them five points clear after 74 minutes.
At that stage it looked like the hard work had been done, and that Louth had finally run out of steam in the testing conditions.
But Mickey Harte’s men summoned up one last almighty effort with Donal McKenny and Ryan Burns combining to set up Conall McKeever for a well-taken goal five minutes into additional time.
With Mayo’s nerves jangling, Louth carved out a scoring chance for Conor Grimes from the restart and his point left the minimum between the teams.
But there wasn’t enough time for the Wee County to grab an equaliser as referee Noel Mooney sounded the full-time whistle on Colm Reape’s kick-out.
The home side had come flying out of the blocks to race into a three points lead after four minutes as Colm Reape (long-range free), Jack Carney and Ryan O’Donoghue all hit the target.
Louth opened their account on 11 minutes through a Sam Mulroy free, but they were fortunate not to concede a goal shortly afterwards when James Califf pulled off a fine save to deny Mayo full-back David McBrien.
The sides traded scores three times over the next ten minutes to maintain the status quo with the pick of the points coming from Louth’s Conor Grimes and Ciaran Downey (a mark) and Mayo’s Jordan Flynn.
The first half scoring came to a close in the 31st minute when Mayo defender Stephen Coen landed an excellent score from a mark from the left wing to give the locals a three point cushion at the interval.
The second half followed a similar pattern, with Mayo threatening to pull away on a number of occasions but never managing to open up any significant daylight.
And they almost paid a heavy price after Louth’s late rally, but did just enough to secure the victory that sees them stay in pole position to qualify for the All-Ireland quarter-finals as group winners.
Mayo face Cork in round three with Louth taking on Kerry at neutral venues.
 A O’Shea (0-4, 4fs), R O’Donoghue (0-3, 2fs), C Reape (0-1, 1f), S Coen (0-1), M Ruane (0-1), J Flynn (0-1), J Carney (0-1), P Durcan (0-1), F McDonagh (0-1).
C McKeever (1-0), S Mulroy (0-3, 3fs), C Downey (0-2, 1m), C Grimes (0-2), L Grey (0-1), N Sharkey (0-1), C Early (0-1).
C Reape; P O’Hora, D McBrien, D McHugh; J Coyne, S Callinan, S Coen; M Ruane, J Flynn; C Loftus, J Carney, J Doherty; A O’Shea, J Carr, R O’Donoghue.
P Durcan for Doherty (50); T Conroy for Carr (50); E Hession for Callinan (60); F McDonagh for Flynn (63);
J Califf; B Duffy, P Lynch, D McKenny; L Grey, N Sharkey, C Murphy; T Durnin, C Early; C McKeever, C Downey, C Grimes; C McCaul, S Mulroy, A Williams.
L Jackson for Williams (HT); C Lennon for McCaul (HT); R Burns for Lynch (50); P Matthews for Murphy (70).
N Mooney (Cavan).
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