Cork, Galway, Louth and Tyrone have emerged as the winners of Round 2A and advanced as seeds in the All Ireland quarter finals to be played on the weekend of June 27/28. Meanwhile, eight teams will vie in Round 3 next weekend for the other four spots in those quarter finals. And four counties — Cavan, Roscommon, Kildare and Derry — will play no further part in the All Ireland Senior Championships having lost their Round 2B games
The Round 3 games are Saturday’s Kerry vs Armagh, Fitzgerald Stadium, 4 p.m, and
Mayo vs Meath, MacHale Park, at 6.30 p.m.; on Sunday, it’s Dublin vs Donegal at Croke Park, 1.15pm, and Monaghan vs Westmeath, St Tiernach's Park, Clones, 4 p.m.
Each of the quarter final seeds won narrowly — in three games the margin was a point — and it could be said, then, the Round 2A losers all deserve their second bite of the cherry.
Louth's Sam Mulroy got the winning goal, to make it 2-20 to 2-19, in the last action of the game against Armagh, who’d seemed in control. Armagh started well in the first half, but Louth, using superior aerial power, edged ahead by two points at the break and similarly, but more dramatically, they did what was necessary at the end of the game.
In addition to Mulroy, who also got four points on the board, Dara McDonnell (1-03), Craig Lennon (0-03), James Maguire (0-03) and Ciaran Downey (0-04) were the winners’ top scorers.
For Armagh, Gareth Murphy (1-00); Ross McQuillan (0-04), Jarly Og Burns (0-03, 1tp), Oisin Conaty (1-01), and Cian McConville (0-03, 0-01f) made the biggest impacts scoring wise.
It was the goalkeeper who was the hero in the Tyrone’s one-point victory over Mayo, but not because of his stopping skills. Rather, Niall Morgan’s late two-pointer proved the difference between teams that were level 10 times during the course of the game. It finished 0-22 to 1-18.
Morgan also got a 45, before Mayo’s Sam Callinan seemed to do the business with a punched-over point. Of course, the goalie with nerves of steel wasn’t done and he made himself a Tyrone legend with his winning free kick. In addition, to Morgan’s 3, sub Darren McCurry, with 6, and Ronan Cassidy, with 4, were the Red Hand’s big scorers.
Mayo’s heavy lifting, from the scoring point of view, was done by their front-line forwards: Darragh Beirne (1-02), Ryan O’Donoghue (0-05, 3f) and Kobe McDonald (0-03, 1tp). Beirne’s goal gave the contest what it needed in a crucial moment in the second half, but ultimately the visitors had to settle for a Round 3 game next weekend, keeping their 75-year dream alive.
Cork came a long way to take Donegal, not just in road distance, but also in making up a seven-point deficit, to claim their place in the All Ireland quarterfinals with a 0-17 to 1-13 win. They made the new rules work for them, outscoring the heavily tipped Donegal in the two-pointer stakes. Tommy Walsh’s was the most dramatic of those, putting the Cork men in the lead for the first time with eight minutes on the clock. But it was Steven Sherlock’s heroics, with four two-pointers, plus a 45, that proved the real difference for the visitors.
At Pearse Stadium, Galway ended Westmeath’s impressive run of Sam wins, prevailing with the biggest of the Round 2A margins, 3-21 to 2-21. Galway, the favorites, were in control for most of the game and seemed certain to win with a 9-point advantage and just 6 minutes left on the clock. But the visitors rallied to bring that deficit to a mere two points, thanks to a series of two-pointers. So, the Lake County, cheered on by a clear majority of the 25,000 crowd, were just another two-pointer away from their fourth consecutive extra-time battle, but Shane McGrath’s fisted point sealed the win for the home team.
The 2B games overall proved less close, with Roscommon fans probably those with the most reason to be disappointed, given how the county had impressed to win their first Connacht title since 2019. Their Sam campaign fizzled out away to Monaghan, while Kildare took a walloping from Kerry and Dublin didn’t have much difficulty is disposing of Cavan. Derry vs. Meath proved the most competitive game in 2B, but Meath ultimately were good for their four-point win.
Results
All-Ireland SFC Round 2A
Louth 2-20 Armagh 2-19, Páirc Grattan, Inniskeen
Galway 3-21 Westmeath 2-21, Pearse Stadium
Tyrone 0-22 Mayo 1-18, O'Neill's Healy Park
All-Ireland SFC Round 2B
Cavan 0-16 Dublin 1-24, Kingspan Breffni
Camogie All-Ireland Senior Championship
Waterford 0-13 Galway 1-13, Azzurri Walsh Park
Tipperary 0-18 Cork 0-21, FBD Semple Stadium
Saturday 13 June
All-Ireland SFC Round 2A
Donegal 1-13 Cork 0-17, MacCumhaill Park
All-Ireland SFC Round 2B
Monaghan 1-20 Roscommon 0-14, St Tiernach's Park
Kildare 0-17 Kerry 3-22, St Conleth's Park
Derry 1-20 Meath 1-24, Celtic Park
Tailteann Cup quarter-finals
Offaly 1-22 Wexford 1-17, O'Connor Park
Antrim 3-15 Wicklow 2-19, Corrigan Park
Laois 0-15 Down 2-23, O'Moore Park
Fermanagh 2-24 Sligo 0-9, Brewster Park
Ladies All-Ireland SFC - Round 2
Galway 4-20 Tyrone 2-7, Tuam Stadium
Dublin 2-13 Donegal 0-5, Parnell Park
Kildare 0-8 Kerry 1-19, St Conleth's Park
Waterford 1-14 Cork 1-15, Fraher Field
All-Ireland MHC semi-finals
Tipperary 5-18 Cork 2-19, TUS Gaelic Grounds
Galway 1-15 Limerick 1-26, Páirc Chíosóg
