Mayo cling on against Cork

Mayo clung on by the skin of their teeth to defeat a battling Cork side in this afternoon’s All-Ireland football quarterfinal at Croke Park on a scoreline of 1-19 to 2-15.

Leading by seven points midway through the second half (0-16 to 0-9), Mayo appeared to be easing to a semi-final meeting with Kerry on August 24 but they don’t call them the Rebel County for nothing as Cork began to eat into Mayo’s lead, three points separating the sides with eight minutes remaining.

A stunning goal from Donnacha O’Connor had the game tied with seven minutes to go but Cork were hit four minutes from time when Aidan O’Shea fired the ball to an empty net after Cillian O'Connor had fired over a free.

But there was still another twist in this amazing tale as Cork’s Brian Hurley hit back immediately with his side’s second goal to leave just a point between the sides.

Mayo dug deep into the pocket of their All-Ireland experience with points from Donal Vaughan and Lee Keegan to go ahead by three again, yet Cork managing to pull back two points in just two minutes of injury time as Mayo survived a few scares in those closing minutes. The Munster men were furious at the end when the full-time whistle was blown just as they had made it a one-point game, but the result stood.

The sides were all square at the interval at 0-8 apiece, Cork surging ahead at one stage by three points before Mayo responded. The Connaught champions enjoyed a superb third quarter to open up a seven-point lead before Cork staged a stunning comeback that came up just short.