Mayo girls beaten by Galway goal-fest in thrilling Connacht final

CONNACHT LGFA PPS JUNIOR C FINAL

St Cuans Castleblakeney 6-7

Davitt College Castlebar 3-7

CONNACHT CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

SIX points down after 38 seconds, another team might have folded their tent and faded away, but the girls of Davitt College showed why they're so highly-rated by digging in and being part of a thrilling provincial final in Bekan this morning.

The Castlebar students were stunned by goals from St Cuans outstanding midfielder Emma Barrett and centre-half-forward Chloe Flynn before the first minute had been played, but they fought their way back into it.

They stopped the rot and with Aoife McKeown, Katlyn Morahan, Kate McNicholas, Grace Carroll, Ellen Rose Lavelle and the excellent Cliodhna Dowling to the fore, they were 3-3 to 1-3 adrift at the interval.

The Davitt goal arrived from the boot of Dowling after 23 minutes when she got on the end of a flowing move, raced through to finish smartly.

The second half began with a goal for Davitt when Carroll lashed home a penalty but Cuans hit back with a net-shaker of their own from Alanna Glynn. The Galway girls pushed forward looking for more scores but Ilona Heyl was excellent between the posts for the Castlebar students and when Dowling ran through and Beth Murrihy sent a bullet into the corner of the net they were back in it.

However, Cuans finished strongly and goals from Lilia Murray and Mairead Mullins sealed the deal despite three late points from Davitt midfielder Ellen Joyce.

A feature of the contest was the performance of referee Declan Hunt, who contributed to the event by his excellent, timely and common-sense implementation of the rules.

A full match report will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News