Magical McDonald sends Mayo into Connacht final

A breathtaking display by Kobe McDonald helped Mayo put Galway to the sword on a 3-16 to 1-12 scoreline and advance to the Connacht U20 Championship final this evening.

The Crossmolina sensation finished with 2-3, with his first half goals worth the price of admission alone.

The sides were level with five minutes played, after Darragh Beirne’s two-point free for Mayo was cancelled out by Ross Coen and Cian Mitchell. But from there, Mayo took control.

Using the strong wind to their advantage, they sank three two-pointers on the spin through Joey Holmes, Kobe McDonald and Darragh Beirne by the 13th minute.

Beirne tagged on a free three minutes later before McDonald superbly controlled Conor Meaney’s kickout in the middle of the field and raced away to thunder his shot into the bottom corner for Mayo’s first goal.

McDonald raised his second green flag on 24 minutes. Tom Lydon was the provider on this occasion and McDonald fired across Brian Carroll and into the net.

Galway had a goal chance of their own denied by Conor Meaney, before Mulryan pointed a free in the final action of the first half as the Tribesmen trailed 2-10 to 0-4.

The visitors started the second half brightly, but scored only three points in the opening ten minutes and were guilty of some wayward shooting.

Once again, Mayo turned to McDonald and he hit a stunning point off the outside of his right boot on 41 minutes. A pair of Oisin Deane singles followed before Mayo put the result beyond doubt with a third goal on 47 minutes courtesy of Dylan Flynn.

Galway rallied late on, with Mulryan bagging a goal and a pair of two-point free. They will get another chance at Mayo in the provincial decider in two weeks time should they beat Roscommon in the semi-final next week but whoever comes out on top, Mayo will be going into the final as heavy favourites.

*See Tuesday's Western People for full coverage