Mayo had Armagh to the pin of their collars early doors and had two goals within the opening five minutes provided by John Heraty and Sean Regan. Shane Boland would find the net again on the stroke of half-time whilst Armagh fell further and further away from the home side, owing to some keen accuracy from the Mayo front six, all of whom registered points in the first half.
Liam Lavin was the pick of them in opening 35; the Tooreen hurler fired over four fine points from play and Mayo’s halftime lead was an unassailable gap of 14 points as they led 3-12 to 0-7. Armagh’s main threat came from frees with Alex O’Boyle registering five in a poor opening period for the Orchard County.
Mayo showed no sign of letting up as Cormac Phillips added their fourth goal of the day with just over sixty seconds on the clock in the second half. By the 55th minute, they had matched their points tally from the first half with 12 additional points on the board. Armagh had a goal back through Ciarán Duffy but it made very little difference to the shape of the game.
Mayo continued to add on scores, 0-5 of which came from the bench as they rang the changes with a crucial clash against Roscommon now on the horizon.
Scorers –
Mayo – C Phillips 1-5 (3fs); S Boland 1-3 (2fs); L Lavin 0-6; S Regan 1-2; J Heraty 1-0; B Douglas (2fs), S Kenny, D Huane 0-2 each; A Phillips, E Delaney, C Hession, E Collins, K Gallagher, K Feeney, B Sheridan 0-1 each.
Armagh – A O’Boyle (7fs) 0-9; C Duffy 1-1; C Reneghan 0-2; F Donnelly, T Galvin, P McBride, K Laverty 0-1 each.
TEAMS:
MAYO: B Douglas: L Connor, O Greally, C Murray: C Hession, D Kenny (c), E Collins: S Kenny, J Heraty: S Regan, A Phillips, L Lavin: S Boland, C Phillips, E Delaney. Subs: D Huane for A Phillips (38), K Gallagher for Delaney (45), D Hill for Hession (50), B Sheridan and K Feeney for Boland and Lavin (55)
ARMAGH: F Woods: O Curry, D Fox, N Lennon: B Shortt, K McKernan, T Nevin (c): S Renaghan, C Renaghan: J O’Connor, P Gaffney, A O’Boyle: T Galvin, L O’Flaherty, F Donnelly. Subs: C Duffy for O’Connor (3), D Ryan for Lennon (29), S Óg McGuinness for O’Flaherty (44), P McBride for Duffy (49), K Laverty for C Renaghan (62)
REFEREE: J Connors (Donegal)
