Impressive draw for Mayo against unbeaten Kerry in Killarney

Sinead Walsh was Mayo’s saviour at Fitzgerald Stadium when she struck a point at the death to secure a 0-8 to 0-8 draw against Kerry in the fourth round of the Lidl National Football League Division 1, writes Dan Kearney.

Mayo trailed Kerry by 0-8 to 0-5 with 10 minutes remaining but the visitors stormed back to hit three points in a row to secure a brilliant draw and bring Kerry’s winning start to the campaign to an end.

Mayo suffered a loss before the game when All-Star Danielle Caldwell was ruled out with an injury. She was replaced by the very effective Sinead Cafferky, who went on to have a fine game.

Kerry, playing with the aid of the breeze, started the first half in flying fashion and soon found themselves 0-3 to no score ahead with seven minutes gone.

Anna Galvin was very much to the fore in that opening salvo, popping over two fine scores, the first after a pass from Amy Harrington and the second assisted by Mary O’Connell.

When Níamh Ní Chonchúir pointed a possible goal chance to put Kerry three ahead after a 40-metre pass from Danielle O’Leary, the signs looked ominous for Mayo. However, the visitors dusted themselves down to come right back at Kerry for the remainder of the half.

Pressure on the Kerry kick-out saw Maria Cannon point a placed ball in the ninth minute and although they kicked a couple of wides, Cafferky and a brilliant individual effort from Cannon saw the visitors level matters by the 20th minute.

Kerry were wasteful, kicking six wides in the first half as their forward division was well held by some strong cover in the Mayo backline.

Cafferky hit a fine individual score to put the Connacht side one ahead once more in the 21st minute but that was to be their final score of the half before Amy Harrington got a welcome score for the home side in the final seconds to see the sides go in at 0-4 apiece at the break.

Kerry looked to have control of the second half when they pushed 0-8 to 0-5 ahead on the 50-minute mark, while they also let a couple of goal chances slip, with Niamh Ní Chonchúir rattling the crossbar in the 41st minute and Hannah O’Donoghue’s goal-bound effort in the 43rd minute well kept out thanks to a combination of Saoirse Lally and goalkeeper Laura Brennan.

Mayo came right back into the game after that and struck three on the bounce thanks to Walsh and a Cannon free before Walsh performed her heroics with the equaliser in the last minute.

Kerry: C. Butler; E. Lynch, D. Kearney, A. Dillane; B. O’Connor, C. Lynch, C. Murphy; M. O’Connell, A. Galvin (0-2); J. Gill, D. O’Leary, A. Harrington (0-1); H. O’Donoghue, J. Lucey, N. Ní Chonchúir (0-1).

Subs used: A. O’Connell for B. O’Connor, N. Carmody (0-1) for J. Gill, E. Dineen (0-1) for J. Lucey (all HT), L. Scanlon for M. O’Connell (38), L. Ní Mhuircheartaigh (0-2, 1f) for A. Harrington (44), K. Cronin for A. Dillane (46), C. O’Brien for C. Murphy (51), K. Brosnan for N. Ní Chonchúir (59).

Mayo: L. Brennan; A. Fitzpatrick, N. O’Malley, S. Lally; K. Sullivan, S. Cafferky (0-2), E. Murray; A. Geraghty, H. Reape; F. McLaughlin, L. Cafferky, M. Cannon (0-4, 3f); T. Needham, F. McHale, S. Walsh (0-2).

Subs used: J. Mortimer for E. Murray (42), E. Needham for S. Cafferky (44), E. Reape for A. Fitzpatrick (51), C. Doherty for T. Needhan (56).

Referee: Patrick Smith (Waterford).