Super second half powers Armagh minors past Mayo into All-Ireland final
Fionn Toale, left, and James McCooe of Armagh celebrate after their side's victory over Mayo. Picture: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Armagh produced a scintillating second half display to power their way into the All-Ireland Minor football championship final for the first time since 2009 at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in Longford on Sunday evening.
Aidan O’Rourke’s side outscored a highly-rated Mayo outfit by 0-9 to 0-2 in the second period to run out comprehensive winners and set up a repeat of the Ulster final against Derry in the All-Ireland decider.
Centre-back Seán Woods and midfielders Jack Loughran and Daithi O’Callaghan played key roles in Armagh’s success, while Diarmuid O’Rourke, a son of the team manager, was also a central figure in the game-plan.
Their full-forward line of Fionn Toale, Eoin Duffy and Shea Loughran also caused Mayo huge issues all through, contributing 0-10 between them.
Ironically, the Connacht champions got off to the perfect start when Andrew Quinn blazed his way through the Armagh defence and crashed in a brilliant goal after just 49 seconds.
They stretched their lead even further when Kobe McDonald converted a free.
However, that was as good as it got for the Westerners as the Orchard County began to play themselves back into contention.
They began to get on top around the middle and a string of scores from Eoin Duffy (three, including a free and a mark), Shea Loughran and Diarmuid O’Rourke levelled the match for the first time on 21 minutes.
The final stages of the opening half were evenly-balanced as Mayo’s Oisin Deane and Kobe McDonald traded points with Diarmuid O’Rourke and James McCooe to leave the teams deadlocked at the interval: 1-4 to 0-7.
The match was effectively decided in the third quarter as Armagh upped the ante and hit six points without reply from Shea Loughran (3), Eoin Duffy, Daithi O’Callaghan and Fionn Toale to pull clear.
They were 0-13 to 1-4 ahead after this purple patch and the game was over as a contest.
Mayo, to their credit, continued to plug away and they ended a 25 minute spell without a score when Oisin Deane hit the target in the last quarter, but there was no way back for the team managed by Tom Reilly and David Heaney.
Armagh continued to press home their advantage and late scores from Aaron Garvey (2) and Eoin Duffy sealed their victory.
M Finnegan; T Fox, G O’Rourke, C Wilson; Fergus Toale, S Woods, D O’Rourke (0-2); J Loughran, D O’Callaghan (0-1); R Marsden , J McCooe (0-1), K McEntee; Fionn Toale (0-1), E Duffy (0-5, 1f, 1m), S Loughran (0-4).
Subs used: A Garvey (0-2) for Marsden (35); A McGrane for Toale (58); L Bellew for Duffy (60); D McGee for G O’Rourke (62); O Gribben for D O’Rourke (62).
N Roddy; C Coghill, T Hession, D Butler; D Hurley, M Noonan, M Sheerin; J Moyles, O Loughney; H McHale, K McDonald (0-3, 2fs), D Flynn; B Langan, O Deane (0-2), A Quinn (1-0).
Subs used: C Kavanagh for Loughney (27, inj); J Roddy for Sheerin (HT); E Walsh for McHale (40); J O’Malley (0-1) for Quinn (40); F O’Kinsella for Langan (58).
J Hayes (Limerick)
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