Mayo and Dublin advance to TG4 final

Mayo booked their place in the Senior final for the
fifth year in succession but only just after getting out
of jail at O’Moore Park, Portlaoise on Saturday The Connaught
champions only manageed a single score in the opening period,
a goal from Yvonne Byrne after they were a warded a controversial
penalty in the sixth minute. Galway playing much the better
football in this very scrappy stop start game rallied and
took the game to a Mayo side that had already beaten them
three times this year.

By the break they had built up a lead of 1-04 to 1-00, the
major coming on 20 minutes from Niamh Fahy. They opened
the second half the brighter and opened up a six point lead
before Mayo got their first in the 17th minute. Cora Staunton
with free’s soon had Galway pegged back and the side’s had
to go to extra time with the scores tied at 1-06 a piece
on the hooter.

Like in ordinary time extra time was a stop start nature
with the referee content on stopping the game for the slightest
of injuries resulting in over ten minutes of injury time
in the opening period. Mayo showed their experience and
always looked the side to claim the final spot and led at
the break by 1-10 to 1-07 and held out to advance in a very
poor game littered with free’s and stoppages that had 32
minutes of injury time played in all.

This was a thrilling encounter from start to finish
with an inspired performance from Angie McNally in the second
half see her side advance to the final for the first time
ever.

Kerry led at the break by 0-07 to 0-03 with Kacey O’Driscoll
and Geraldine O’Shea causing the Dublin defence problems.
Yet Kerry led on the scoreboard it was Dublin that looked
the better side but like against Monaghan in the Quarter
final they had problems finding the target and were punished
with the acurate Kerry forwards. The second half was to
belong to the girls from the capital with McNally giving
a performance to remember and one that earned her the player
of the match award. The midfielder hit five valuable points
to help her side turn this game around and overcome the
girls from the kingdom even through they were reduced to
14players just twelve minutes into the second half.

alangunn@hotmail.com