Armagh's strong case

All-Ireland Under-21 FC Final: After last month's semi-finals the general feeling among Mayo people was the senior final held out better prospects of success than this afternoon's tilt with Armagh. On the basis of that double bill in Galway you couldn't blame them. The Ulster champions blew Cork out of the water, impressing with their size, physical strength and the sheer dynamism of their football.

Mayo for their part were lower-key. It may be unfair to read too much into the respective matches given Kildare never looked likely to trouble the Connacht champions and the impact on the winners' sense of urgency has to be factored. But Mayo aren't a particularly big side and need the match to take a certain direction.

Hovering over the match is the miasma of last Sunday's crushing defeat by Kerry in the senior final. Although only Dermot Geraghty starts both finals, Mayo's management of John Maughan, Liam McHale and George Golden took the opportunity to fire on a few more under-21s to give them a run as the match wore on.

Underage championships aren't, however, as predictable as at senior level and although Armagh have to be strong favourites there are still some prospects for Mayo.

The team's big asset is in the full-forward line. Michael Conroy, who scored 1-1 in the senior final, and Damien Munnelly are fliers and Alan Costello also has pace, as well as finishing ability, which gave him 1-3 in the semi-final with only the woodwork preventing a second goal.

If Armagh had a flaw against Cork, it was that the defence looked a little short on mobility. At times, specifically the second quarter, they were vulnerable to quick attacks and by the break their lead after all that early domination was a mere one point. The Ulster side's second-half response was impressive and swiftly the match was back in their control.

But Cork still had chances for more and only exceptional goal- keeping by Paul Wilson stifled a second, meaningful comeback.

That's the good news for Mayo but the bad news is the power of their opponents around the middle. Joe Kernan's sons, Aaron and Stephen, both worked flat out from wing back and centre forward respectively, hoovering ball and moving it on. Malachy Mackin was towering at centrefield and the scoring potential of Michael McNamee, Gregory Loughran and Ronan Austin kept driving Armagh on even when the match was getting choppy.

It's a bit like last week. A good start and a good performance could give Mayo the initiative but the evidence points otherwise and they may have to be content with identifying a few players who can strengthen the seniors for renewing the challenge next year.

MAYO: F Ruddy; D Geraghty, P Navin, T Howley; M Carey, L O'Malley, S Drake; B Moran, C Barrett; A Kilcoyne, R McNamara, A Moran; A Costello, D Munnelly, M Conroy.

ARMAGH: P Wilson; G Smyth, F Moriarty, A Mallon; A Kernan, C McKeever, B McDonald; M Mackin, G Swift; G Loughran, S Kernan, P Toal; M McNamee, R Austin, B Mallon.