Allianz Football League Division One: Mayo beat Armagh as Kerry hammer Monaghan
Last updated on .From the section Gaelic Games
Armagh fell to their first defeat of the season as Mayo finished with a flourish to win an entertaining contest 0-15 to 1-10 at Dr Hyde Park.
Ciaran Mackin's goal helped Armagh lead 1-5 to 0-6 at the break but a 69th-minute Jordan Flynn score gave Mayo the lead for the first time before Paddy Durcan's late effort sealed the two points for James Horan's side.
Armagh are third with Kerry leading Mayo on scoring difference with the Kingdom sealing a 3-14 to 1-12 success over Monaghan in Inniskeen.
David Clifford scored two goals for Kerry with Sean O'Shea also finding the back of the Monaghan net as the Munster champions proved too strong for Monaghan.
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Conor McManus - available to play after his red card against Armagh was rescinded - scored a late penalty for Monaghan, but that was scant consolation as Kerry ran out comprehensive winners to keep their place at the Division One summit.
Monaghan remain without a win after four games and sit seventh in the table, ahead of a struggling Dublin side who suffered their fourth loss of the campaign away to Kildare on Sunday.
Disappointment for Armagh
With Mayo's MacHale Park home being redeveloped, last year's All-Ireland beaten finalists are playing their home games away from Castlebar and there was significant intrigue around Armagh's visit to Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon with both teams having impressed during the early stages of the campaign.
Armagh went into the game having slipped from a winning position to draw with Monaghan last time out but Kieran McGeeney's team - who have made a habit of producing electric first-half displays this year - got off to the perfect when Ciaran Mackin found the back of the Mayo inside the opening minute.
Stefan Campbell, Jason Duffy and Rory Grugan scores helped the Orchard County establish a commanding 0-1 to 1-3 lead before Mayo hit four - including two from the game's top scorer Ryan O'Donoghue - without reply to reduce the deficit to one.
However, a couple of stunning Rian O'Neill points helped the Ulster side hold a two-point lead at half-time.
Ciaran Mackin's black card late in the first period allowed Mayo to level the game early in the second thanks to Aiden Orme and Diarmuid O'Connor, but a Rory Grugan free and substitute Conor Turbitt's fine effort allowed Armagh to restore their two-point advantage.
When Aidan Nugent responded to Kevin McLoughlin's score with a couple of quickfire points, Armagh led by three and seemed in a strong position to close out the game.
But after another two O'Donoghue scores brought Mayo back to within touching distance, Durcan restored parity before Flynn put Mayo into the lead for the first time in the final minute of normal time.
Durcan then raised a white flag from play to put the game beyond Armagh's reach as Mayo built on last week's win over Dublin with another eye-catching success before their top-two showdown with Kerry in Tralee on 12 March.
Two goals for Clifford as Kerry breeze past Monaghan
In Inniskeen, Monaghan were rocked by second-half goals from David Clifford and Sean O'Shea which caught out sweeper 'keeper Rory Beggan.
Clifford had already rounded Beggan to tap the ball into the net for Kerry's first goal three minutes after half-time, which put Kerry 1-8 to 0-4 ahead.
But three minutes later came the game's most memorable moment.
Kerry forced a turnover in the middle of the field when a pass between Darren Hughes and Beggan was blocked by Sean O'Shea.
He sent in a long ball and it ended with Clifford beating Kieran Duffy to the loose ball on the ground and he rolled it into an empty net.
The incident stunned a huge home crowd in Grattan Park.
Having trailed by 0-7 to 0-4 at half-time despite having the wind, depleted Monaghan were always going to be up against it.
Without the injured Conor McCarthy, Jack McCarron and Ryan McAnespie, they struggled to contain Kerry who killed the game in the third quarter.
No Monaghan forward scored from play until Andrew Woods' effort four minutes into the second half.
Kerry picked off scores from distance from Diarmuid O'Connor, Tony Brosnan and subs Paul Geaney and Stephen O'Brien.
In the 57th minute Kerry added a third goal, again with Beggan slightly off his line.
O'Shea was going for a point but his shot dropped short and the ball dropped over Beggan's head and into the back of the net.
It was that sort of day for Monaghan, who will now have to regroup ahead of a crucial Ulster derby against Donegal in Ballybofey in two weeks' time.
ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE RESULTS
SATURDAY (all times GMT)
| Division One | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Donegal | 1-12 | Tyrone | 0-12 |
| Division Two | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Offaly | 1-10 | Meath | 1-10 |
| Down | 0-10 | Roscommon | 1-18 |
| Cork | 2-17 | Galway | 3-22 |
| Division Three | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Wicklow | 1-09 | Limerick | 1-14 |
| Laois | 1-08 | Antrim | 1-08 |
| Division Four | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tipperary | 1-13 | Sligo | 1-09 |
SUNDAY
| Division One | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Kildare | 1-12 | Dublin | 0-12 |
| Monaghan | 1-12 | Kerry | 3-14 |
| Mayo | 0-15 | Armagh | 1-10 |
| Division Two | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clare | 0-10 | Derry | 2-13 |
| Division Three | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Longford | 1-10 | Fermanagh | 3-11 |
| Louth | 1-15 | Westmeath | 1-13 |
| Division Four | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 1-6 | Wexford | 0-11 |
| Cavan | 0-9 | Carlow | 1-12 |
| Waterford | 1-13 | Leitrim | 2-17 |
