Stoppage-time drama as Louth shatter Mayo’s All-Ireland dream

A Wee margin was the difference between agony and ecstasy as a fisted Adam Gillespie point in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time earned Louth a 2-12 to 0-17 victory over Mayo in Friday evening’s Dalata All-Ireland U20 Football Championship Semi-Final.

Mayo looked a decent bet to reach a first All-Ireland final at this grade since 2019 when twice taking the lead inside the final ten minutes, but playing catch-up for so long eventually took its toll on Peadar Gardiner’s side who at no stage before the 51st minute had ever been in front.

Louth football is on the crest of the wave at the moment – there is the possibility of a senior, U20 and minor Leinster hat-trick when their latter side plays its provincial final on Monday – and Mayo were left in no doubt about the ability of their opponents when Shane Lennon buried the game’s opening goal inside three minutes. Fergal Reel’s team rifled home a second four minutes before half-time in Longford’s Glennon Brothers Pearse Park too, and while Mayo competed very well in between those concessions, it was hard to argue anything other than that the Wee County were full value for their three points interval advantage, 2-5 to 0-8.

Lennon’s early goal came directly after their goalkeeper Tiarnan Markey had saved a rasping shot by Diarmuid Duffy at the other end. Markey would later in the half save from Darragh Beirne too, but Mayo were level by the 23rd minute, Tom Lydon’s accuracy one of the key reasons.

Pearse Grimes Murphy blasting to the Mayo net so close to the interval was a sucker punch but the Green and Red did have the final scoring say, with the excellent Paul Gilmore striding up from defence to pop over their eighth point.

A cagey third quarter, in which both sides fluffed their lines in front of the posts, ended with the teams kicking one score apiece, Colm Lynch’s Mayo two-pointer coming after Mayo goalkeeper David Dolan had parried Grimes Murphy’s attempt for his second – and Louth’s third – goal over the bar.

But the Connacht champions gained energy from a trio of rapid substitutions and from a Lydon brace and further two-pointers by Lynch and Beirne, from a self-won free, to lead 0-16 to 2-9 after 57 minutes.

Louth regained the advantage courtesy of Markey kicking a long-range free, Darragh Beirne levelled, but one loose clearance by Mayo was punished when wing-back Tadhg McDonnell set-up Adam Gillespie for his second – and match-winning – point.

See Tuesday’s Western People for full coverage.