Longford 1-12
Mayo 0-14

Longford recorded one of the biggest upsets in the All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers when they defeated Mayo by one-point at Pearse Park

Mayo manager John O'Mahony went into this match under a bit of pressure as the Westerners have once again failed to fulfil their potential following their exit at the hands of Sligo in the Connacht championship.

This was last chance saloon for Mayo and they knew that they faced a tough test against a Longford side that have proven difficult to beat at home in recent years. Both Dublin and Kerry can testify to that fact.

Home advantage can be a major bonus in the qualifiers and Mayo would have known ahead of this game. They certainly would not have taken their opponents for granted by any means.

Mayo began the brighter and points from Alan Freeman and Andy Moran helped them to settle early on, but they showed their old failings as they shot five wides from very scoreable chances.

Points from Francis Magee (2) and Brian Kavanagh kept Longford in the match as the score after 26 minutes was 0-5 to 0-3 and it was still all to play for at this stage.

A brace by Moran was met with a point Paul Barden who injured himself when scoring and had to be replaced. The half time score was 0-7 to 0-4.

In the second half, Longford had most of the possession early on but the sides exchanged points early on as Mayo, who were well below par, just kept their three-point lead intact.

Substitute Paul Kelly scored a goal for Longford to help put them 1-8 to 0-9 before Kavanagh extended the home side's lead much to the delight of their large following.

Mayo started to gather a lot of possession but Longford were battling hard and a Kavanagh point kept them in front by 1-10 to 0-10 with just six minutes remaining.

Mayo centre back Keith Higgins was sent off as Longford moved ahead with three minutes remaining when Shane Mulligan kicked a fine point to make it 1-11 to 0-13.

A Sean McCormack point cancelled out Freeman's point to win it for Longford in what was an astonishing win for Glenn Ryan's men.

Longford - D Sheridan; D Brady, B Gilleran, D Reilly; S Mulligan (0-1), E Williams, S Hannon; D Masterson, B McElvaney; P Dowd (0-1), P Barden (0-1), K Mulligan (0-1); F McGee (0-4, 3f), B Kavanagh (0-3, 1f), S McCormack (0-1). Subs - P Kelly (1-0) for Barden (35), P Foy for Hannon (60).

Mayo - D Clarke; C Barrett, G Cafferkey, K Higgins; D Vaughan, T Howley, K McLoughlin; A O'Shea, P Harte; A Moran (0-2, 1'45), S O'Shea (0-1), A Freeman (0-5, 1f); C Mortimer (0-2, 1f), B Moran (0-1), A Dillon (0-3). Subs - L O'Malley for McLoughlin (35), M Ronaldson for A O'Shea (42), T Parsons for Howley (53), WJ Padden for Harte (67).

Ref - G Ó Conámha (Galway) Tweet

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