Armagh 0-16; Galway 1-12
Armagh showed their mettle by overcoming the loss of talisman Rian O'Neill to suspension and then trailing Connacht champions Galway as they headed towards the finishing post at Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday. However they produced a never say die performance to get their noses in front through a Rory Grugan point and then held on for dear life until referee Joe McQuillan blew the final whistle.
The result brought about great joy among the big Orchard support in the 6,800 crowd and it means they now go into the quarter-finals proper without having to prequalify as second and third teams must do this coming weekend.
So we now know that there are others capable of stepping up to the mark in place of O'Neill as Grugan proved; what we don't know is how this defeat will affect Galway morale as Shane Walsh had chances with a penalty and free miss to win or at least draw the game but failed to do so on both occasions.
Despite that spot miss, Galway led by 1-5 to 0-6 at the break and they appeared to have the measure of their opponents in the scoring department. For instance when the impressive Grugan, Conor Turbitt, Andrew Murnin and Aidan Forker all found their range, a brace of Walsh scores and one each from Peter Cooke and Cillian McDaid kept Pádraic Joyce's men ahead. Sean Kelly, an attacking fullback like no other had been fouled for the penalty which was missed but he was at it again shortly afterwards when he ran 45 metres before slipping the ball home to boost Galway’s hopes.
Armagh came into the game more in the second half and successive points from Murnin, Turbitt and Campbell saw them edge ahead by the minimum.
Once again it was Walsh and Matthew Tierney nudged the Westerners ahead before Grugan levelled matter for the seventh time.
It was a case of tit for tat down along the second half as Turbitt and Walsh swapped scores as did Jason Duffy and Cooke to leave the sides locked at 1-9 to 0-12 entering the last 20 mins.
Walsh then landed a huge free but Murnin negatived before Grugan landed a free before the ubiquitous Kelly popped up to shoot a levelling score.
With timing ticking away, the big question was 'who would hold their nerve?' Tierney appeared to have given Galway the upper hand with his point but Forker cancelled that out with two minutes of the 70 left to play. Then Grugan showed his leadership qualities by landing the winning score. Galway had a late chance but Waleh's effort had neither the direction of length to raise a white flag and that means they face their old rivals Mayo in Salthill this weekend.
Armagh: E Rafferty; P Burns, A McKay, A Forker (0-2); C Higgins, G McCabe, C O’Neill; C Mackin, B Crealey; J Duffy (0-1), R Grugan (0-4, 0-3f), C Cumiskey; C Turbitt (0-4, 0-2f), A Murnin (0-3, 0-1m), S Campbell (0-2) Subs: J Kieran for O’Neill (blood 13-20), J Óg Burns for Cumiskey (46), R McQuillan for McCabe (52), K for Higgins (60), J McElroy for Duffy (70).
Galway: C Gleeson; S Kelly (1-1), C Hernon, J Glynn; B Mannion, J Daly, J McGrath; P Conroy, C McDaid (0-2); M Tierney (0-2), J Heaney, P Cooke (0-2); C Sweeney, I Burke, S Walsh (0-5, 0-3f) Subs: J Maher for Mannion (52), R Finnerty for Heaney (58), Ci Ó Curraoin for McDaid (blood 68).
Ref: J McQuillan (Cavan).
Cork 1-14; Mayo 1-11
Mayo blew hot and cold, and not for the first time, to copperfasten their sobriquet as the GAA's biggest enigma when they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Cork in the Gaelic Grounds, Ennis, on Sunday.
And yet maybe that synopsis is unfair to Cork who looked dead and buried with 12 minutes to go when they trailed by six points and seemed unable to conjure up the scores required.
However, as if by magic, something happened in the Rebel ranks and they hit the Connacht men for 1-6 without reply to win this game. And not only that, but they won by a margin of three points which secured them a home All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final slot against Roscommon.
The Cork management team can take all the praise for overseeing this dramatic comeback because their decision to unleash Steven Sherlock with half an hour to go was the single most important decision in the game.
It looked like a step down when he entered the fray for the injured Ruairi Dean but Sherlock amazingly scored 1-5 from the six shots he had at goal to completely change the complexion of this game.
His goal from the penalty spot visibly gave Cork relief and then the work of fellow subs John O’Rourke and Chris Óg Jones got the score which edged out Mayo from second spot and deprived them of home advantage.
You'd wonder why Mayo didn't shoot for a point with a last-gasp Aidan O'Shea free from 35 yards. He floated it in searching for a goal when a point would have meant a huge boost in front of home followers in the next round. Instead they have to man up against their oldest of rivals, Galway in Salthill. Maybe though, this is what Kevin McStay's side need as they appeared flat on Sunday and the prospect of Galway always raises the performance in the green above the red.
Cork: M Martin; M Shanley, R Maguire (0-2), T Walsh (0-1); L Fahy, D O’Mahony, M Taylor; C O’Callaghan (0-1), I Maguire; B O’Driscoll, R Deane, K O’Hanlon; S Powter, B Hurley (0-2, 0-1f), E McSweeney (0-1) Subs: S Sherlock (1-5, 1-0 pen, 0-1f, 0-1 '45) for Deane (40), J O’Rourke (0-1) for McSweeney (51), C Corbett for Hurley (55), K O’Donovan for Fahy (58), C Óg Jones (0-1) for Powter (64), M Cronin for O’Hanlon (67).
Mayo: C Reape (0-1 '45); J Coyne, D McBrien, P O’Hora; D McHugh, C Loftus, P Durcan; S Coen, M Ruane; D O’Connor, J Carney, J Flynn (0-4); A O’Shea, J Carr, R O’Donoghue (0-5, 0-4f) Subs: T Conroy (1-1) for Carr (ht), E Hession for Coyne (52), E McLaughlin for Ruane (52), K McLoughlin for McHugh (67).
Ref: P Faloon (Down).
Kildare 1-16; Roscommon 1-15
Kildare are on a high following this win with Glenn Ryan's forces winning due to their strategy of high balls which caused the Roscommon rearguard all sorts of trouble in their concession of five scored “marks” in Tullamore on Sunday.
As always, Roscommon were a superior force with their defensive tactics hard to break down in hand to hand combat on the ground. This was clearly exemplified when Kildare concocted a move to win the game in the 76th minute.
It was Daniel Flynn who posted a high, hanging ball into the Rossie rearguard when the power of Kevin Feely won possession to set up the winning score for the Lilywhites.
His mark saw him register his third point of the day and give the Kildare men home advantage in the preliminary quarter-finals which ironically may have to be played in Tullamore again. They won't mind though as they will feel the Offaly venue is a lucky place for them, particularly as few favored them to emerge victorious against the charges led by their own county man Davy Burke.
A former All-Ireland U-20 winning manager with his native county, Burke will now have to dust down and accept his side must win on the road or bow out of this year's battle for Sam Maguire.
Whether he was the inspiration or not, the Lilies were the better side for large chunks of this encounter and only ceded advantage when they suffered two black cards - to Alex Beirne and Ryan Houlihan - in the first moiety.There was a hunger about their play, the way they closed down kickouts and chased and harried, sometimes even lost causes that saw them play like men on a mission. Such was the intensity of their play that they forced Roscommon to shoot 11 wides to their own paltry five.
The Rossies only needed a draw to be a second placed team but now they have made life difficult for themselves, though they have played their best football when least is expected of them. However, Cork are flying after their win over Mayo and with home advantage will fancy their chances against the Rossies.
Kildare: M Donnellan; E Doyle, R Houlihan, S Ryan; D Hyland, K Flynn, J Sargent; K O’Callaghan (0-1), K Feely (0-4, 0-3m, 0-1f); P McDermott, A Beirne (1-2), N Flynn (0-4, 0-3f); D Flynn (0-1m), D Kirwan (0-1), B McCormack (0-3) Subs: D Malone for Houlihan (44), T Archbold for Beirne (59), H O’Neill for Doyle (65), P Cribbin for McDermott (70).
Roscommon: C Carroll; D Ruane (0-1), C Walsh, B Stack; D Murray, N Daly (0-1), E McCormack; E Nolan, C Daly; C Murtagh (0-4, 0-3f), C McKeon (0-3, 0-1m), E Smith (1-3); D Smith (0-1f), B O’Carroll (0-1), D Murtagh (0-1f) Subs: C Lennon for C Daly (20), C Hussey for Walsh (44), D Cregg for D Murtagh (59), N Kilroy for D Smith (60), R Hughes for Nolan (70).
Ref: M McNally (Monaghan)
Donegal 0-19; Monaghan 0-17
You couldn't put bad money on Donegal to win a match these past few months and now they are still alive and kicking and getting better with each game they play.
With so many crises including in-house fighting and the loss of Paddy Carr as manager, it seemed this post Michael Murphy season would be a trying one for the followers of Tir Conaill.
Instead they have home advantage in the preliminary quarter finals of the All Ireland championship against neighbors Tyrone and with Paddy McBrearty hopefully back for that game after coming on this time they will have a new-found confidence in their ability to go toe-to-toe with such a big gun.
The good news is they have found their attacking mojo again and this was evidenced by their first half returns of 13 points, 11 of which came from play as they tore holes in a hesitant Farney rearguard.
This gave them the confidence to express themselves and with their runners confusing the Monaghan markers, they had greater control of the game than the two-point winning margin would suggest.
If they are to be serious contenders though, they too will need to tighten up at the back as Monaghan forwards also had the upper hand and kept them in the game having turned around 0-13 to 0-9 in arrears. They got it back to a two-point game but inaccuracy and lack of composure meant they couldn't find a goal that would win the match.
Donegal: S Patton (0-1f); M Curran, B McCole, C McColgan; C Ward, E Ban Gallagher, S McMenamin; C McGonagle (0-1), H McFadden; D O Baoill (0-3), J Brennan (0-2, 0-1f), C Thompson (0-3, 0-1f); O Doherty (0-1), O Gallen (0-5, 0-3f), C O’Donnell (0-3) Subs: J Ross Boyle for Ward (47), P McBrearty for Gallen (55), R O’Donnell for O Baoil (59), L McGlynn for O’Donnell (72)
Monaghan: R Beggan; R O’Toole, K Duffy, R Wylie; K O’Connell, C Boyle (0-2), C McCarthy; K Gallagher, K Lavelle; S O’Hanlon (0-1), M Bannigan (0-2), R McAnespie (0-1); J McCarron (0-5, 0-3f, 0-1m), G Mohan (0-3, 0-1m), D Hughes (0-2) Subs: C McManus (0-1f) for Gallagher (41), S Carey for Lavelle (47), K Hughes for D Hughes (58), C Lennon for O’Connell (59), F Hughes for McCarron (67)
Ref: L Devenney (Mayo).
Preliminary Quarter Final draw All Ireland Championship
(To be played this weekend)
Kildare v Monaghan
Cork v Roscommon
Donegal v Tyrone
Galway v Mayo
(Teams already in the quarter finals - Kerry, Armagh, Dublin, Derry)
All Ireland SF Championship
Tyrone 0-18; Westmeath 0-18
Dublin 3-23; Sligo 0-8
Kildare 1-16; Roscommon 1-15
Kerry 5-24; Louth 0-11
Cork 1-14; Mayo 1-11
Armagh 0-16; Galway 1-12
Donegal 0-19; Monaghan 0-17
Derry 1-20; Clare 1-13
All Ireland SH Championship
Tipperary 7-38; Offaly 3-18
Dublin 2-25; Carlow 0-21
Tailteann Cup
Laois 1-14; Limerick 0-14
Meath 2-23; Wexford 0-12
Down 1-17; Cavan 0-15
Antrim 1-19; Carlow 1-15
Tailteann Cup semi-final draw
(To be played Sunday at Croke Park)
Down v Laois
Meath v Antrim
