REPORT: Farney fightback falls just short against Mayo

Monaghan 2-20 Mayo 1-24

Mayo survived a second half onslaught from Monaghan to book their place in Round 2A of the All-Ireland series. For the Farney County, they are into the losers side of Tuesday’s draw and it’s now last chance saloon.

As is customary with Gabriel Bannigan’s side, they never gave up despite losing by 12-points at one stage in the second period. The introduction of Bobby McCaul gave them a major boost, but unfortunately the towering full forward was withdrawn through injury.

His 25 minute cameo inspired those around him though and when Stephen Mooney hammered home a 66th minute goal, it was game on.

Monaghan may regret not playing with the wind in the first half after they won the toss, and perhaps gave themselves just too much to do.

Mayo bookended the opening half with a flurry of scores, notching the first four points of the half and the last. They hammered over six two-pointers during the first 35 minutes as well, giving them an 11-point lead at half time.

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Jack McCarron and Aaron Carey got Monaghan up and running but two-pointers from Ryan O’Donoghue, Jack Carney and Kobe McDonald made it an eight-point game after 22 minutes.

Mícheál Bannigan and Oisin McGorman split the posts before the first goal of the game arrived, when Darragh Beirne put it on a plate for McDonald to palm home.

The sides traded scores and an Andrew Woods two-pointer narrowed the deficit to seven but Beirne (free) and O’Donoghue executed from outside the arc before the hooter sounded, leaving Mayo 1-17 to 0-9 up at the interval.

Flynn and Conor Loftus traded scores with Rory Beggan (two 45s) before O’Donoghue put 12 between them. Dessie Ward raised an orange flag while O’Donoghue replied for Mayo but Monaghan soon gained some much needed momentum.

A quick fire 1-1 from Bobby McCaul, along with a single from McCarthy, got Monaghan back to within six. Beirne and McCarron cancelled each other out while McCarron replied to a Paddy Durcan point with a two-pointer.

Mooney then slammed the ball to the net but when O’Donoghue popped over a late free, it was going to take a goal for Monaghan to save their bacon. Unfortunately, the best they could do was a Max Maguire two-pointer, and that left them just one short in the end.

Monaghan: Rory Beggan 0-2 (2 45), Jack McCarron 0-5 (1f, 1tp), Killian Lavelle, Dylan Byrne, Aaron Carey 0-1, Ryan O’Toole, Dessie Ward 0-2 (1tp), Michéal McCarville 0-1, Karl Gallagher, Oisin McGorman 0-1, Mícheál Bannigan 0-1 (1f), Ryan McAnespie, Conor McCarthy 0-2, Andrew Woods 0-2 (1tp), David Garland. Subs: Max Maguire 0-2 (1tp) for R. McAnespie, Robbie Hanratty for K. Gallagher (blood sub), Bobby McCaul 1-1 for D. Garland, Ryan Wylie for A. Carey, Stephen Mooney 1-0 for O. McGorman, Fionan Carolan for B. McCaul.

Mayo: Jack Livingstone, Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh, Enda Hession, Sam Callinan,
David McBrien, Diarmuid Duffy, Bob Tuohy, Jack Carney 0-4 (2tp), Hugh O’Loughlin, Conor Loftus 0-1, Jordan Flynn 0-2, Darragh Beirne 0-4 (1tpf), Ryan O’Donoghue 0-8 (1tp, 1tpf, 2f), Kobe McDonald 1-4 (1tp). Subs: Paddy Durcan 0-1 for C. Loftus, Paul Towey for S. Coen, Fenton Kelly for D. Duffy, Aidan O’Shea for H. O’Loughlin, Diarmuid O’Connor for D. Berine.