Mayo edged by Louth in Under 20 thriller

Mayo were just pipped by Louth in their bid to reach the All-Ireland Under 20 Football Championship final in a rip-roaring last four encounter at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, Longford, the Leinster county winning on a 2-12 to 0-17 scoreline, writes Aiden Henry.

It was a heartbreaking end to the game for Mayo as a point by Louth’s Adam Gillespie in the third minute of injury time won this enthralling semi-final.

Indeed, the Louth winner came less than a minute after Mayo had just missed a free at the other end of the field to take the lead.

Louth laid the foundation for their victory in the opening half, during which they found the back of the Mayo net on two occasions. The first of the goals came in the third minute from Shane Lennon just 30 seconds after Mayo’s Diarmuid Duffy was denied one at the other end by the brilliance of Louth ‘keeper Tiarnan Markey.

However, as Mayo grew into the game, they began to find their range and by the 22nd minute they had drawn level following some wonderful points from Hugh O’Loughlin, Darragh Beirne, Niall Hurley and Tom Lydon.

However, four minutes from the interval, Louth struck for a second goal from man of the match Pearse Grimes-Murphy and went in leading by three points at the break, 2-5 to 0-8.

On the resumption both sides missed some good scoring chances in the opening 11 minutes. As a result, there were 12 minutes played in the new half before a flag was raised, a Louth point to put them four clear.

A brilliant two-pointer from Colm Lynch and two more points from Tom Lydon had Mayo back on level terms in the 49th minute.

Although Louth regained the lead in the 50th minute with a point from Shane Lennon, Mayo hit the front for the first time in the game 60 seconds later after Lynch landed his second two-pointer of the game. But Louth replied with a two-pointer of their own from Grimes-Murphy to regain the lead in the 54th minute.

Once again this lead was short lived as two minutes later, Mayo’s Darragh Beirne got the score of the game when he converted a magnificent free over on the right touchline to nudge his team a point clear.

However, there was still plenty of time for more drama as the Leinster champions got their second two-pointer of the game when goalkeeper Markey put the ball between the posts from a free to put them back in front again. A minute into injury time, Beirne came up trumps for Mayo again by firing over a delightful point from play to level matters.

But just when it seemed like extra time would be needed to settle this semi-final, up popped Louth’s Gillespie to fist the winner in the third minute of added time.

Mayo: D. Dolan; R. Mortimer, P. Gilmore (0-1), Y. Coghill; Hugh O'Loughlin (0-1), J. MacMonagle, C. McHale; D. Duffy, S. Howard; O. Cronin, C. Keaveney, C. Lynch (0-4); D. Beirne (0-4), N. Hurley (0-2), T. Lydon (0-5).

Subs used: L. Feeney, D. Neary, E. McGreal, J. Carey, O. Armstrong.

Louth: T. Markey (0-2); M. Reid, K. Martin, P. Tinnelly; T. McDonnell (0-1), C. McKeown, S. Lennon (1-2); S. Callaghan, J. Maguire (0-1); C. McGinty, C. Mac Críosta, P. Grimes-Murphy (1-3); A. Gillespie (0-2), T. McDonnell (0-1), D. Dorian.

Subs used: D. Reilly, D. Shevlin.

Referee: C. Dourneen (Cavan).