James McCooe, Armagh, and Tom Hession, Mayo, in Electric Ireland MFC action at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Electric Ireland MFC Semi-Final
Armagh 0-16 Mayo 1-6
By Stuart Tynan at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park
Armagh flexed their muscles in the second half to reach a first All-Ireland minor football final since 2009 at the expense of Connacht champions Mayo.
Mayo were fortunate to be level at the break, 1-4 to 0-7, the Orchard County hitting the crossbar twice in the opening quarter with the goal at their mercy.
Six points without reply in the third quarter from Armagh, captain Shea Loughran accounting for half of those points, set them on their way and they powered on to a seven-point, with Mayo only scoring two points in the second half.
Mayo had the dream start after 49 seconds. After corner-back Conor Coghill turned the ball over in the middle of the field, he played in Andrew Quinn and the corner-forward thundered his shot into the top corner of the net.
Armagh should have levelled after a long ball in Daithi O’Callaghan, but his shot from the edge of the square cannoned off the woodwork.
A brilliant free 30 metres out from near the sideline by Kobe McDonald extended Mayo’s lead before Eoin Duffy got Armagh up and running from a placed ball on 10 minutes.
Loughran and McDonald exchanged scores before Armagh drew level on 21 minutes through Eoin Duffy, Diarmaid O’Rourke and an Eoin Duffy mark, while Fionn Toale saw a big goal chance crash off the crossbar.
Oisin Deane stopped the rot, but Armagh finished the half strongly through another Diarmaid O’Rourke point and another from James McCooe nudged them ahead. McDonald’s third point on 24 minutes levelled it and that’s the way it would stay until half-time, but Armagh were dominating all aspects and only one winner was looking likely.
Loughran (three), Eoin Duffy, Daithí O’Callaghan and Fionn Toale stretched the Armagh lead to six and the Ulster side were controlling all aspects of this contest by the end of the third quarter.
Oisin Deane stopped the rot for Mayo on 49 minutes, but it would be only one of two scores for the Green and Red in this second half, with substitute Jack O’Malley scoring the other approaching injury-time.
The likes of Evan Walsh and Joe Forry, big players for the Mayo minors this year, were unable to have any influence in the second half and Armagh saw out the game with relative ease through a pair of points by Aaron Garvey and one from O’Callaghan.
Armagh will hope to be third time lucky in two weeks time when they face Ulster champions Derry in the All-Ireland minor final, a side they have been beaten by twice already this season.
Scorers for Armagh: Eoin Duffy (1f, 1m) and Shea Loughran 0-4 each, Diarmaid O’Rourke, Daithí O’Callaghan and Aaron Garvey 0-2 each, James McCooe and Fionn Toale 0-1 each.
Scorers for Mayo: Andrew Quinn 1-0, Kobe McDonald 0-3 (2fs), Oisin Deane 0-2, Jack O’Malley 0-1.
Armagh: Michael Finnerty; Tomás Fox, Gavin O’Rourke, Conall Wilson; Fergus Toole, Seán Woods, Dairmaid O’Rourke; Jack Loughran, Daithí O’Callaghan; Ross Marsden, James McCooe, Keelan McEntee; Fionn Toole, Eoin Duffy, Shea Loughran.
Subs: Aaron Garvey (for Marsden 38); Oisin Cribben (for D O’Rourke 50); Aodhan McGrane (for Toale 57); Danny McGee (for G O’Rourke 60+3).
Mayo: Nathan Roddy; Conor Coghill, Tom Hession, Daithí Butler; David Hurley, Mark Noonan, Mark Sheerin; Josh Moyles, Owen Loughney; Harry McHale, Kobe McDonald, Dylan Flynn; Barry Langan, Oisín Deane, Andrew Quinn.
Subs: Conor Kavanagh (for Loughney 27); Joe Forry (for Sheerin ht); Evan Walsh (for McHale 41); Jack O’Malley (for Quinn 41); Fionn O Cinnseala (for Langan 57).
Referee: Jonathan Hayes (Limerick).
