Wonder goal fires Mayo into the last four
Mayo League’s Jack O’Connor seals his side’s victory with a fourth goal against the Kerry League during the Oscar Traynor Cup quarter final at Umbro Park, Castlebar. Pictures: David Farrell Photography
Mayo League reached their first FAI Oscar Traynor Cup semi-final in almost 20 years after defeating Kerry League last Sunday afternoon in Umbro Park.
Joe Kelly’s side were full value for the win over a strong Kerry outfit. The trio of Matt Keane, Shane Lowth and Matthew Horgan caused problems in the first half but the Mayo backline of Cillian McGlade, Ioseph O’Reilly, Cillian Redmond and Andrew Shally rarely put a foot wrong over the 90 minutes and snuffed out the threat as the game wore on.
There was outstanding performances across the pitch for the home side. As well as the aforementioned backline, Oran Groarke and Dylan McKee displayed the power, panache and discipline in the middle. After a quite opening, Darren Browne came to the fore while the twin threats on the wings Jason Hunt and Jack O’Connor (on as a first substitute for the injured Jamie Cawley) kept Eoin Moynihan and Cian Doe to their defensive duties.
It was Ben Edeh, however, who was a cut above the rest. His pace, strength and natural ability were simply too much for Liam Spillane and Padraig Looney to cope with, scoring one and assisting two and the former came inside the opening 90 seconds. A short corner was worked to Hunt and his cross was headed back across by Castlebar Celtic teammate Groarke across the six yard for Edeh to bundle in for the best possible start for Mayo.
Kerry responded well and were back level on 14 minutes when a chipped cross found the unmarked Matthew Horgan and he directed his header into the bottom left corner.
Edeh will feel his should have had his, and Mayo’s second when a ball over the top by O’Reilly was not dealt with by Liam Spillane. It fell into the path of the Ballyheane forward but he opted to take a touch instead of a first time shot and the angle was too narrow to score.
Edeh’s constant movement and physicality made the opening for Mayo to retake the lead on 22 minutes. Shally’s cross was over hit but Edeh kept the ball alive in the penalty area and his cross found the onrushing Dylan McKee, who got in front of Kerry goalkeeper Kyle Clifford to head home.
On 35 minutes, Mayo missed a golden opportunity to go 3-1 ahead. As Browne got away from the Kerry midfield, he played in Hunt but the Celtic man saw his effort come back off the post. They were punished minutes later as Shally was caught out of position and unmarked, Shane Lowth fired a low drive on the edge of the penalty area past Gary Cunningham to level it before half-time.
Once again, Mayo went in front five minutes into the second half with a goal worthy of the admission fee alone as Andrew Shally unleashed an unstoppable strike from 35 yards into the top corner of the net.
The goal knocked Kerry for a loop and they struggled for ideas and invention throughout the second half. Their best chance came on 73 minutes when a ball over the top was not dealt with by Cillian Redmond and substitute Adam Warde was in but Gary Cunningham was out quick to deny him was a smart stop.
At the other end, Jason Hunt saw a near-certain goal cleared off the line by Cian Doe after beating the goalkeeper but with a minute of normal time remaining, Mayo made sure of the spot in the semi-finals as Edeh beat Clifford in a foot race for possession inside the penalty area and he squared it for Jack O’Connor to tap it into an empty net.
Mayo now await the draw for the semi-final, which will be played in a neutral venue on the weekend of March 10.
