Tyrone beaten again as Mayo edge Castlebar battle
- Published
Tyrone fell to a second straight Division One defeat as Mayo edged an attritional battle in Castlebar to win 0-12 to 0-10 and move off the bottom of the table.
The Ulster county led 0-5 to 0-4 at the break and 0-9 to 0-7 with 20 minutes remaining, but the Westerners finished strongly to claim their first win of the campaign.
Tyrone - still without their Errigal Ciaran contingent - also ended the game with 14 men after defender Michael McKernan was shown a second yellow card late on.
Goalkeeper Niall Morgan top-scored with 0-3 for Tyrone, who welcome Kerry to Omagh next week in a must-win game for Malachy O'Rourke's side.
In a largely forgettable first half, Mayo scored three of the opening four points through Frank Irwin, Davitt Neary and Cian McHale, with Morgan hitting Tyrone's only point in the opening quarter.
Mayo dominated possession early on and could have scored a goal after seven minutes only for Morgan to deny Eoin McLoughlin, who also failed to turn in the rebound.
But after Brian Kennedy notched a much-needed score for the visitors, Mayo were temporarily reduced to 14 men when Conor Reid was shown a black card following a clash with Darren McCurry.
And while Matthew Ruane scored a lovely point for the hosts, scores from Michael McKernan, Mark Bradley and Eoin McElholm late in the first half gave Tyrone a slender advantage at the break.
Despite Jordan Flynn's two-pointer putting Mayo back in front early in the second half, Tyrone built a two-point lead through a couple of Darren McCurry frees and two Morgan scores, one of which came from play.
But after Ryan O'Donoghue and Fergal Boland brought Mayo level, the impressive Irwin curled a fine effort over the bar to nudge Kevin McStay's side in front once more.
Cathal McShane came off the bench to knock over an important free for Tyrone before Morgan failed with a goal-bound shot when he could have taken a point.
That missed chance allowed Mayo to break up the field and win a free, which O'Donoghue converted to put the hosts ahead.
And after McKernan was dismissed for hauling down Neary, Boland scored to ensure a much-needed Mayo victory and increase pressure on the Red Hands.