Brave Louth fall just short in thrilling Nickey Rackard Cup clash

Louth senior hurlers gave Mayo one of their toughest tests yet in Castlebar this afternoon but just fell short after a late surge from the Westerners.

With three minutes to play, the sides were level at 2-18 apiece, before a flurry of Mayo scores handed them their third straight win.

The Wee County were backed by the stiff breeze in the opening half and went to the interval with a three point advantage, 1-14 to 1-11.

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Ace attacker Leon Fox was causing the home defenders all sorts of problems, while free-taker Darren Geoghegan was unerring from a range of distances.

Mayo were finding it hard to make inroads in attack but a goal from McDermott after 14 minutes kept them well in touch.

Louth responded with a goal of their own from Fox and were well worth their lead at the change of ends.

Mayo began the second half in explosive fashion and a goal from Sioman Thomas after just 40 seconds balanced the scores.

It looked at that stage as if the wind-assisted home side would pull away but Louth were having none of it.

They stayed in the game with centre-half-back Mark Gahan particularly impressive. The Leinster men received a huge boost after 45 minutes when they were awarded a penalty for a foul on speedy attacker Paddy Lynch.

Mayo full-back Oisin Greally was subsequently black-carded and Fox drilled the penalty to the net to put the guests in front 2-15 to 2-13.

At that stage Mayo were becoming frustrated with some of the decisions from the match officials and the umpires at one end left everyone in a quandary when what looked like two clear points for the home side were not awarded.

However, despite hitting a stream of legitimate wides, Mayo eventually drew level. Louth still refused to fade away and the scores were still tied after 67 minutes before a Mayo surge sealed the deal and left Ray Larkin's men on the edge of a place in the final with two rounds still to play.