Mayo came from behind to scrape a 2-12 to 0-15 win over Monaghan at Castlebar.

The Ulster county were the better side for long spells but Mayo got stronger as the match progressed and showed greater economy to take the spoils.

Monaghan made the better start to roar ahead impressively. Indeed, they were the dominant force in the first half but were stung by a late, late goal to lead by just two at the break, 0-9 to 1-4.

Conor McManus (45) opened the scoring while Stephen Gollogly and Paul Finlay were also on target before Alan Dillon closed the gap. McManus and Dillon traded points and Finlay's free made it 0-5 to 0-2 in favour of the visitors after 20 minutes.

It was 0-7 to 0-2 after Darren Hughes clipped one over for Banty's men and Tommy Freeman's score made it 0-9 to 0-3. Sub Mark Ronaldson got a Mayo point to keep John O'Mahony's men in touch.

Monaghan led by 0-9 to 0-4 but a late, late Donal Vaughan goal on the stroke of half time kept Mayo in contention.

The losers started the second half superbly well with four points without reply - three from Finlay and one from McManus - but Mayo got back into contention again with an Aidan O'Shea goal, 0-13 to 2-5.

Three more Mayo points with the game up for grabs saw them kick for the winning line, 2-8 to 0-13. The tide had swung with Ronaldson hitting the lead point.

Andy Moran and Tom Parsons registered the last two points of the game as the Connacht champions prevailed. Tweet

Most Read Stories