Mayo find that bit extra to send them into national final
The Mayo U18 squad pictured before their semi-final against Inishowen League.
Having won the Connacht title earlier in the season, the Mayo U18 interleague side travelled to Buncrana on a dull and cloudy Saturday afternoon for what would prove to be a serious challenge against a strong and organised Inishowen squad.
This was a massive obstacle for Chris McGauley’s side, with the Mayo Football League only ever reaching the final on two other occasions in 1989 and the 2017/2018 season. This game was played at a furious pace with the tie only being decided in the second period of extra time.
As one would expect the opening period of the game saw both sides adopting a conservative approach with no chances of note being created. The first big chance of the game arrived on 29 minutes, but Inishowen powered a bullet of a header just over the bar.
Almost falling behind appeared to rouse Mayo who finally began to find some rhythm in the final third. On 34 minutes, JP Collins dribbled up field before playing lovely ball to Jack Walsh who powered towards the Inishowen penalty box and playing an incisive through ball to Rian Durkan whose powerful shot was brilliantly saved by the Inishowen goalkeeper.
Mayo were playing some great football now and two minutes later, a Darragh Reynolds freekick from all of 30 yards rattled the crossbar to almost give Mayo the lead. The visitors began to turn the screw, and it seemed the opening goal was not far away, but the goal came for the home side before the half-time break when a wonderful cross field ball found Jack Gill who cut inside a curled the ball from 25 yards out into the far top corner of the net. The ensuing celebrations saw Danny McDaid received a yellow card for unsporting behaviour with the player protesting that it was a teammate who should have been booked, a decision which would later huge bearing on the outcome of the game.
Five minutes into the second period, Oisin Costello was called into action with an outstanding save to keep Mayo in the game. Tiernan Brady, Fionn McLoughlin and Simeon Popov were introduced to provide additional attacking threat to a tiring Inishowen rearguard and on 70 minutes, the aforementioned McLoughlin drove down the right flank before crossing to Brady who shot was blocked with the rebound falling to Jack Walsh on the edge of the box who strike whistled just wide of the post.
Despite the pressure being applied Mayo were not getting the rub of the green and it was looking ominous at this stage. On 75 minutes a brilliant interchange of passing saw Popov cut the ball back from the endline to Rian Durkan whose strike saw another Mayo effort blocked by the outstanding Inishowen defence.
From the resulting corner, Mayo were not to be denied when Darragh Reynolds cross was volleyed to the net by Simeon Popov to the delight of the team and bench. Late chances fell to Popov and Durkan for the winner but on both occasions the keeper was equal to the task and ensured the game was level at 90 mins with extra time required.
In the opening period of extra time, Inishowen were reduced to ten men when McDaid picked up a second yellow card for an overly aggressive challenge on Tom McGeough. No further goals arrived in the opening period of extra time the prospect of penalties was now very much on the cards. This would not be the case though as Mayo, who had been knocking loudly on the door and now with the man advantage and the significant impact from the bench would power on to secure victory. With seven minutes to go, the Inishowen resistance was finally broken when Ashton Judge powered down the left flank and crossed to the onrushing Rian Durkan who headed the ball to the net to finally give Mayo a well-deserved lead.
Three minutes later Mayo finally finished the contest when the energetic Jack O’Brien played a through ball to Simeon Popov who curled the ball around the keeper into the corner of the net to add the icing on an impressive performance from the Connacht champions.
Mayo manager Chris McGauley was pleased after the game and noted the work rate and endeavour from his squad against a very dogged Inishowen team. McGauley also alluded to the difficulty in picking match day squads let alone the starting 11 such is the quality of players at his disposal. This is certainly a golden period for the Mayo Football League and soccer in the county as a whole.
Mayo will face a very strong Cork side in the final, who defeated Wexford League 5-0 in the other semi-final, but will be no doubt be in confident mood when the big day arrives. The game is scheduled to be played on the weekend of April 12/13.
