Sunday saw the quarterfinalists for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship confirmed, while Meath and Down will contest the Tailteann Cup final.
The big game of the day was between neighbours Galway and Mayo, who travelled to Pearse Stadium for the weekend’s last preliminary quarter-final.
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The Tribesmen dominated the first half, and despite racking up the wides, were able to get eight points on the board by the break, while holding the visitors scoreless beyond the 7th minute.
But in sharp contrast, Mayo emerged from the dressing rooms a different side, with a goal in the 42nd minute from David McBrien levelling the game after two points from Ryan O’Donoghue.
From there Mayo found their rhythm at last, holding their narrow lead to the death to see Galway out of this year’s championship by the smallest of margins, ending 1-10 to 0-12.
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Advertisement David McBrien celebrates after scoring a goal for Mayo. Photo: Inpho
The result means Mayo join the winners of Saturday’s preliminary quarter-finals, Cork, Tyrone and Monaghan, and the four top-placed counties from the group stages, Dublin, Kerry, Derry and Armagh, in the quarter-finals. The draw to decide the quarter-final pairings will be held on Monday morning.
Elsewhere, Croke Park hosted both Tailteann Cup semi-finals.
Meath met Antrim in the opener, with Aaron Lynch netting early for the Royals to bring them back level at the 11-minute mark.
The teams stayed neck and neck for the remainder of the half, with Antrim just getting out in front to take a 1-7 to 1-6 lead into the second half.
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But another goal after the break, this time from Jordan Morris, and a point from Mathew Costello pushed Meath ahead for the first time with 45 minutes gone, before Morris Cathal Hickey and James McEntee extending the gap to eight points within a 10-minute spell.
Held scoreless in the second half until the 55th minute, Antrim faced a sizeable task to pull themselves back into contention, but scores from Ruairi McCann and Dominic McEnhill cut it back to five, before Paddy McBride provided their much-needed goal less than 10 minutes from the final whistle.
Dermot McAleese made it a one-point game, before he snatched the leveller on the cusp of full-time. The comeback took its toll however, as Meath took three points in added time to see out the game 2-16 to 2-14.
The second semi-final was less of a close encounter as Down laid down a marker for the final, crushing Laois 8-15 to 2-12.
The writing was on the wall from the word go, as Down surged into a 2-2 lead to no reply in the opening 10 minutes.
Laois registered their first point after 13 minutes, but with very little relief as it was closely followed by another two goals from the Ulster men, including a second of the day from Liam Kerr.
The half-time whistle was a welcome sound for Laois, who found themselves 4-10 to 0-4 down, but it was more of the same in the second half, with Kerr claiming his hat-trick in the first minute after the restart.
With the game over by way of a contest, Kevin Swayne raised the green flag for Laois to make it 7-14 to 1-10, only for Down to hit back with their eighth and final goal of the afternoon, this time coming from Danny Magill.
A penalty for Mark Barry improved Laois’ showing on the scoreboard, but ultimately the Ulster men proved far too strong, finishing out the game 8-16 to 2-12.
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