1-25 Dublin

FT: Dublin 1-25 Armagh 2-24

THE very idea of hitting 1-25 and still losing still feels alien, but that’s what happened Dublin in their round six loss to Armagh – a game that sent them hurtling towards relegation.

Ger Brennan’s side had sparkled for 40 minutes and it seemed like they couldn’t miss as they moved 11 points clear.

Out of nowhere though, there was a huge momentum shift and Armagh sensed blood and drove at Dublin time and time again. They were already looking good for victory when Oisín Conaty drove to the net to put them in a strong position.

Dublin hit a two-pointer to get within a score, but Cormac Costello’s late two-point effort went wide as Armagh won by two points.

0-28 Clare

FT: Sligo 2-23 Clare 0-28

WHILE Clare had nothing to play for in the final round, Sligo did and even with the concession of 28 points, the 14-men Yeats County managed to stay up in dramatic circumstances.

A dozen points could win a match in times gone by, but Mark McInerney managed that tally for Clare alone and still came out on the wrong side of the result.

Surprisingly for such a huge tally, the Banner had only six different scorers across the game while their opponents had 10.

With no goals, Clare’s 28 scores were the most scored by a losing side in any division this season.

2-22 Tyrone

FT: Meath 3-24 Tyrone 2-22

TWO of the top six highest losing tallies may have happened in different divisions, but they occurred on the same night at the same venue as Tyrone went down to Meath on the undercard of Armagh’s defeat of Dublin.

Croke Park was the home venue of the Royals with Navan being renovated, and there was a big Meath support whereas the Tyrone crowd was paltry.

Despite that, Tyrone were excellent in the first quarter with Ethan Jordan striking over 45s at will and scoring a stunning goal into the Davin End.

Meath, as they tend to do in quarter two, responded and for so long they looked like they would be comfortable winners, but a fine Darragh Canavan cameo kept Tyrone in the hunt – Niall Devlin with their other goal – but 2-22 wasn’t enough.

2-20 Wicklow

FT: Longford 2-21Wicklow 2-20

A SCORELINE that will haunt Wicklow and Oisín McConville for a long time as they saw promotion from Division Four ripped away at the last.

The Garden County simply had to win to go up, and they scored at will as they led by 11 points at one stage in the second half.

However, they collapsed from there and Longford made them pay with Daniel Reynolds kicking the winner that denied Wicklow and moved Longford into Division Three.

Padraig O’Toole scored 1-3 for Wicklow and Oisin McGraynor nabbed 1-2, but they still came out on the wrong side of the result.

2-19 Kildare

FT: Cork 1-31 Kildare 2-19

INCREDIBLY, Brian Flanagan would have left Paírc Uí Rinn wondering how his side only managed 2-19 with Rebel goalkeeper Micheál Aodh Martin making four saves in the final minutes.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out how a young Lilywhites outfit lost the game with their lack of physicality a real problem in Division Two.

They lost this match by nine points as Cork ran through them at will for 45 minutes.

One thing we do know, Kildare have a scoring threat – but they must tighten up at the other end.

0-25 Kildare

FT: Kildare 0-25 Louth 1-25

POOR old Kildare, they are in the list twice having scored a total of 50 points in their defeats to Cork and Louth.

The in-form Wee County still had a chance of promotion in Newbridge, albeit an outside one, so they were tuned in and scored heavily.

Kildare did likewise with Jack Robinson, just like he did against Cork, making a fine scoring cameo from the bench.

Brian McLoughlin, who had a fine league campaign, ended with seven points while Alex Berine was also busy in front of the posts.