Mayo withstand late Roscommon rally to take Hyde Park spoils in All-Ireland round-robin

Mayo withstood a late Roscommon rally to deservedly claim their second victory of the All-Ireland series at Dr Hyde Park, running out 2-14 to 1-15 winners.

Second-half goals from Ryan O'Donoghue — from the penalty spot — and Donnacha McHugh put Kevin McStay’s men in the box seat before Roscommon came with a late rally, spearheaded by Conor Cox’s converted penalty on the cusp of injury time.

However, the sight of Enda Smith limping from the fray won’t have helped manager Davy Burke’s mood ahead of their pivotal game against Cavan in two weeks’ time.

The tit-for-tat nature of the scoring was reflected in a tight opening 35 minutes where the sides were level seven times, but Mayo won’t have been happy with their conversion rate, hitting eight wides, which included Darren McHale missing an open goal.

The first four points were shared — Donie Smith and Diarmuid Murtagh (free) on target for the Rossies, while Darren McHale and Matthew Ruane split the posts for Mayo.

However, rapid-fire scores from Conor Cox (free) and Robbie Dolan edged Roscommon two points ahead, but Player of the Match Eoghan McLaughlin and Ryan O’Donoghue (free) brought the sides level, 0-04 apiece, by the end of the third quarter.

A superb individual score by Enda Smith edged the Rossies back in front before McLaughlin found a huge hole through the middle of the home side’s defence to bring the sides level once more.

Daire Cregg hit one of the points of the half before Jordan Flynn restored parity.

A 28th minute free from Ryan O’Donoghue put Mayo ahead for the first time but Ciarán Lennon became Roscommon’s seventh scorer of the half to tie the contest at 0-07 apiece.

There was still time for O’Donoghue and Cox (free) to swap scores to leave the sides deadlocked at