Final-bound Mayo girls have too much class for Kerry

The Mayo Schoolboys/Girls and Youths AFL had its U15 girls squad hosting Kerry in an Inter-League SFAI Cup Semi-Final at Umbro Park on Saturday.

Prior to kick-off, referee Pearse Concannon facilitated the holding of a minute’s silence in respect of the late Ann Marie Cunningham, wife of Jarlath, who has had a long association with the Schoolboys League.

The visitors almost took a surprise lead in the second minute when a free-kick from their own half was allowed to bounce in the Mayo penalty area and the ever-vigilant Amy Doherty had to clear the ball off her own goal line.

A Doireann Lynch free-kick from the left was met the back post by Grace Carroll but said post denied Mayo from taking the lead.

A very promising move up the Mayo left on seven minutes was spoilt by an overhit pass and it was a similar story for Kerry a minute later up the same flank with a poor cross being the end product this time.

Katie Hughes had already had a well-hit shot saved by the visitors’ goalkeeper before she opened the scoring in spectacular fashion as her brilliantly delivered corner from the right-hand side sailed straight into the net. There were certainly shades of previous players who have achieved similar results playing for Mayo – Anna McDonnell, Amy Murphy (twice in the one game) and Ciara Kearney at last year’s Gaynor Cup immediately came to mind.

More good Mayo attacking play saw Ciara Kearney deliver an excellent cross to the right which Grace Carroll just failed to connect with. Carroll then provided Kearney with a chance which the Kerry ‘keeper saved. On 21 minutes, good initial play by Aoibheann McNamara fed the ball into Kearney and the centre-forward showed great awareness of what was around her by dinking the ball through a small gap for Carroll to hammer home for a well-worked goal.

Hughes almost scored again from a corner-kick with the crossbar denying her.

In a rare Kerry attack, Chloe Fahey at right-back made an excellent recovery tackle after which Mayo went close twice to adding to their total in the closing minutes of the first-half, firstly following another superb Hughes corner and then the same player had a long-range strike well held by the goalkeeper.

Katie Hughes wasted no time at the start of the second-half getting the further goal that Mayo’s general play deserved by this time blasting home from the edge of the box after a sublime McNamara pullback. One brilliant passing movement on 46 minutes involving McNamara, the ubiquitous Siofra McGuinness and Kearney, saw the ball arrive at the far post where Caroll was denied by the ‘keeper.

On 50 minutes, out of nowhere, Kerry pulled a goal back which was poor from a Mayo defensive point of view. Two Mayo defenders missed the bouncing ball and Sadhbh O’Halloran took full advantage to roll the ball home. Such lapses of concentration need to be eradicated otherwise better quality opposition will inflict more damage. A fantastic reverse pass by Kearney presented a good chance for Lynch but against the Kerry goalkeeper made a good stop.

The Kerry goal had no effect on the general run of things as Mayo continued to be by far the superior side and attacked in waves. Kearney was denied by a save but from her resulting corner, the ball was scrambled off the line only for McNamara to react quickest and fire into the net. Kearney, Riona Moynihan and Sophie O’Donnell all went close before the final whistle sounded, and Mayo ran out 4-1 winners.

Speaking afterwards, Mayo manager Sinead Mulhern was delighted with how her young side had played considering the long lay-off since their last match.

Galway and Wexford play in the other semi-final and Sinead feels that either side will be a challenge but one that they can overcome in the final at University of Limerick on the weekend of May 18/19. The manager also thanked her management team on the day, Emma Gibbons, Kian Flanagan and Martin McGreal.