Heartbreak for Mayo against Kerry in Ennis

Mayo's bid to reach the Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship final ended in a heartbreaking 3-10 to 1-19 defeat to Kerry in the semi-final played in Ennis this afternoon, writes Aiden Henry.

While the scoreline tells you that Kerry won by three points, it doesn’t indicate how close Mayo came to winning this highly exciting encounter.

In a game that swung one way and then the other, the sides were locked together as the board went up showing there would be five minutes of injury. One felt that the side who would get the next score would be the team to advance to the final.

Just one minute into the five of those injury time minutes, Mayo put together a great move which ended with Ben Holmes. Although Holmes had plenty of work to do, he brilliantly landed a delightful point to put Mayo in front.

However, Kerry went straight upfield to get the equaliser once again, and when they scored another point a minute later, Mayo were left chasing the ball as Kerry played down the clock.

The game ended with Kerry kicking a two-pointer from way out on the left touchline to book their place in the final against Tyrone.

To say it was very tough luck on these Mayo players would be an understatement as they gave it everything. After going in at half-time a point in front, Mayo found themselves five behind just nine minutes after the resumption after Kerry kicked three early two-pointers. However, the Mayo boys refused to quit and bounced back to reel their opponents in before regaining the lead. Alas, in the end, it was not to be.

In the opening half Mayo had the advantage of the wind. However, it took them some time to settle and after missing three or four good scoring chances, they found themselves two points down after 10 minutes. However, once Ben Holmes got them on their way with a fine point in the 11th minute, they followed this up with a great goal from midfielder Cian May. Points were exchanged on a few occasions before Mayo were hit a real body blow when they allowed Kerry to score a very easy goal in the 22nd minute.

At this stage Kerry had a two-point lead, which was against the run of play. However, Mayo hit back in style and were awarded a penalty in the 30th minute when Tony Carey was pulled down by the Kerry goalkeeper in the big square. From the resulting penalty, Dara Flanagan brilliantly found the left corner of the net. Carey followed this with a point to leave Mayo one in front at the break, 2-5 to 1-7.

Kerry got off to a great start to the second half by scoring three two-pointers to go five in front. But Mayo hit back in style with some great points of their own before substitute Oran Murphy scored a magnificent goal in the 48th minute to level the game. A minute later, Conor Hession had Mayo in front.

Kerry did manage to level the game again before the injury time drama which saw the Kingdom prevail in what was a magnificent battle between these two fine sides.

*See Tuesday's print edition for a full report and reaction.