Mayo 2-14; Kerry 1-10
How Mayo would love a high-summer result like this against All-Ireland and League champions Kerry or indeed any of the other Sam Maguire pretenders.
Quite simply, on Saturday evening they lorded it over the Kingdom for virtually all the game and could have kicked on to win by a much wider margin, had the occasion demanded it.
Leading by 2-8 to 0-3 at the interval, the game was as good as over, even it Kerry outscored their opponents on the changeover, thanks mainly to the introduction of All stars David Clifford and Sean O’Shea, who accounted for five of their eight scores in that moiety.
MacHale Park in Castlebar is something of a citadel for Kevin McStay’s side and if they could manage to reproduce form that they showed in the first half, then nobody in the country would be able to live with them.
Cracking goals from Ryan O’Donoghue and James Carr helped the Connacht side to an 11-point half-time lead and they only had to keep playing to end up easy victors against Jack O’Connor’s team.
Roared on by the majority of people in the crowd of almost 16,000, the home side embarrassed the visitors with the extent of their domination in the opening 35 minutes. Indeed such was the lack of opposition that O’Connor was forced to give his two biggest stars game time in an attempt to restore respectability on the scoreboard.
With two losses away already, to Donegal and now Mayo, the manager on his third stint at the helm of the Kingdom may see his grip on a league victory slip unless they can win their final four games.
Only the arrival of Barry O’Sullivan’s late goal helped take the mean look of the final score as the host beat the double champs for the first time in four years.
There is no doubt though that the arrival of McStay has geed up the squad and the supporters who clearly hope that after 11 final disappointments in pursuit of Sam, that he can be the one to lead the team to the promised land not visited since 1951.
It was the Mayo forward who led the Kerry defense a merry dance for aside from the two goalscorers, Jordan Flynn produced a man of the match performance in both creating and taking scores.
In their defense, Kerry only had half a dozen of what they would have considered their starting 15 lining out for this game and by game’s end, they had increased that number to nine who played in last year’s All Ireland against Galway with Clifford jnr, O’Shea and Killian Spillane all seeing action.
This week could be seminal in their year when they welcome Armagh to Tralee while Mayo will face a different type of home test when entertaining Tyrone on Saturday.
Mayo: C Reape (0-2‘45s); D McBrien, R Brickenden, E Hession; S Coen, C Loftus, D McHugh; M Ruane, D O’Connor (0-1); F McDonagh, J Carney, J Flynn (0-4); A O’Shea, J Carr (1-2, 0-1f), R O’Donoghue (1-3, 0-2fs, 0-1 mark) Subs: B Tuohy for O’Connor (33); C O’Connor McDonagh (50); J Coyne for Brickenden (50); C McStay for Carr (62); P Durcan for Coen (64).
Kerry: S Murphy; G O’Sullivan, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; P Warren, T Morley, P Murphy; J Barry, B O’Sullivan; D Moynihan, P Clifford, M Burns; T Brosnan (0-1), D Roche (0-2, 0-1f), D O’Sullivan Subs: D Casey for Warren (HT); S O’Shea (0-2, 0-1f) for Burns (HT); D Clifford (0-3) for D O’Sullivan (HT); S Okunbar for Roche (55); K Spillane for P Clifford (62).
Ref: S Hurson (Tyrone).
Roscommon’s Enda Smith scores a penalty kick against Armagh at Dr. Hyde Park, Roscommon. Inpho/James Crombie
Roscommon 1-12; Armagh 0-12
Connacht abu! After Mayo’s humbling of Kerry and Galway's easy enough win over Tyrone, it was left to Roscommon to keep the Western roll going at Dr Hyde Park on Sunday.
And that they did as they slugged it out with Armagh before firing the killer blow in front of a crowd of 8,000 when Enda Smith slotted home a penalty that proved the divide between these two teams on the up.
Former Wicklow manager Davy Burke is the toast of Gaelic football as his midas touch has the men in primrose and blue dreaming of league honor now instead of the usual fight against relegation back to Division 2.
They showed their character after a first half in which they had played wind assisted they trailed by a point - 0-8 to 0-7 at the break with Armagh’s Jason Duffy looking the part with four well struck points,
This was a test for the homesters and they proved equal to it. They came out for the second half with a new resolve and once Smith converted the spot kick 15 minutes into the moiety, they always had the upperhand in subsequent exchanges.,
Earlier second half scores from Ben O’Carroll and a brace by Diarmuid Murtagh pushed them two clear and while Barry McCambridge reduced arrears for the Northerners, the penalty put daylight between the sides again that was more or less maintained to the very end.
Heady days for the West as Roscommon, Mayo and Galway occupy the top three places in Division 1.
Roscommon: C Carroll; C Hussey, C Daly (0-2), D Murray; RDolan (0-1), B Stack, N Daly; T O'Rourke, K Doyle; D Ruane, E Smith (1-1, 1-0 pen), C Lennon (0-1); D Murtagh (0-3,0- 2f), B O’Carroll (0-2), C Murtagh (0-1f) Subs: C Walsh for Murray (ht), R Hughes for Hussey (46), D Cregg (0-1) for D Murtagh (54), Cr Cox for C Murtagh (65), D Smith for Lennonn (70).
Armagh: E Rafferty; A McKay, A Forker, P Burns; C O’Neill, B McCambridge (0-1), J Óg Burns; C Mackin, S Campbell; J Hall, R Grugan (0-2f), T Kelly; R O’Neill (0-4, 0-1 ’45, 0-1f) A Murnin (0-1), J Duffy (0-4) Subs: C Turbutt for Mackin (h-t), C Cumiskey for Kelly (55), R McQuillan for O’Neill (62), Kieran for Hall (62), Nl Grimley for Duffy (69).
Ref: C Lane (Cork).
Dublin 0-18; Cork 2-10
Dublin haven’t gone away you know and in fact are consolidating nicely away from the limelight of Division 1 with three wins on the trot to take them to the summit of Div 2.
On Sunday they faced their hardest task to date when they went into the Lions' den to take on and beat Cork at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
The game was marred by poor refereeing which saw a player from each side dismissed - both players should have finished the game.
In the end Dublin class told with old hand Dean Rock showing no loss of appetite as he landed half a dozen points while con O’Callaghan is getting better with each passing game on his comeback from an injury ravaged 2022 by scoring four points on this occasion.
Even more heartening for Dub followers was to see the re-emergence of Jack McCaffrey as a sub. As usual he made an impression and his late point sealed the issue for the visitors to the southern capital.
Cork played second best but showed fighting qualities and goals by Matty Taylor brought them back into it in the second half while Eoghan McSweeney’s first half strike should have settled them better.
They still have a lot of work to do to reach the promotion places following home losses to Meath and Dublin but have proven on the road as against Kildare that they have the talent to make a fight of it.
NFL Results
Div 1
Roscommon 1-12; Armagh 0-12
Mayo 2-14; Kerry 1-10
Galway 0-16; Tyrone 0-13
Monaghan 1-20; Donegal 0-15
Div 2
Dublin 0-18; Cork 2-10
Louth 1-15; Limerick 1-13
Derry 2-15; Meath 1-7
Kildare 0-16; Clare 0-15
Div 3
Westmeath 2-12; Offaly 0-12
Antrim 1-19; Tipperary 0-14
Cavan 1-19; Longford 0-11
Fermanagh 2-14; Down 3-10
Div 4
Wexford 0-19; Leitrim 0-15
Laois 1-17; Carlow 2-8
Sligo 0-21; Waterford 0-13
Wicklow 1-16; London 1-9
