Brave Louth fall just short in thrilling Nickey Rackard Cup clash
Mayo 2-24 Louth 2-18
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.
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.