Mayo Minors battle past Galway in sun-splashed semi-final

CONNACHT U-17 FOOTBALL SEMI-FINAL

Mayo 3-15

Galway 0-15

In Castlebar

MAYO refused to have their championship quest blown off course tonight in Castlebar when they powered past a fine Galway team under blazing skies. The hard-earned victory was copper-fastened in the final run-in when the Green and Red powered away from the guests with a flurry of scores.

The nine-point gap at the end was rough justice on the Galway boys who were on level terms with ten minutes to play. But they couldn't hold off the reigning champions who picked off some classy scores.

Galway were backed by the breeze in the opening half, but Mayo had most of the ball. However, the home boys made poor use of possession and wasted numerous scoring chances. A goal from Oran Murphy after 26 minutes kept the Green and Red within a point of the guests at half time, but they hadn't played well when the short whistle sounded.

Galway landed three two-pointers in the first 30 minutes and made good use of limited possession but were only a point clear at the break, 0-8 to 1-4.

Mayo had the wind behind them in the second half but couldn't shake off the Galway boys despite fine points from Tony Carey and a pair of two-pointers from Conor Hession. Then, seven minutes from the end, a superb Carey goal edged the home boys in front, but they were immediately dealt a blow when wing-back Dara Flanagan was sin-binned.

That's when Mayo's character came to the fore. Adam Kelly took charge in the middle of the field, Full-forward Hession came out the middle and plucked two from the sky and added another stunning two-pointer. Galway tried to come back into it but a goal from Rhys Neary ended the game as a contest and sent the home side into next Friday's final against Roscommon in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park.

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