Hughes the hero as Mayo Under-16 girls edge Connacht final

CONNACHT LGFA UNDER-16 A FINAL

Mayo 1-13

Roscommon 1-12

In The Connacht Centre of Excellence

WITH the game level and a minute left in normal time, it was going to take someone with ice in their veins and a cool head to step up when chaos was unfolding all around in Bekan.

Enter Katie Hughes. It felt like an eternity from when the Westport sharpshooter lined up the sticks to when the ball passed over the bar, but when it did, it was decisive and ensured that Mayo would be leaving the pitch as Connacht champions.

For a long time in the first half, Mayo had the upper hand on their Roscommon counterparts, and, thanks in no small part to the livewire Mikayla McLoughlin, were slowly but surely pulling away from The Rossies on the scoreboard.

In fact, had McLoughlin punished them with a few goals from some inaccurate kickouts, Mayo would have been even further ahead than the three points they were as the game entered the 28th minute.

However, Roscommon rallied in superb form to flip the script, and come half-time, Francus Regan’s charges would have been grateful to hear the shrill of Colm Conway’s whistle.

The Roscommon full-forward trio of Amy Rogers, Laura Glennon, and Anna Kelly found their range with unerring accuracy from all angles, and five points in three minutes saw Tommy Keane’s team going in two to the good.

The second half seemed to be going the way of Roscommon, as they kept Mayo at arm’s length by tagging on scores and restricting Mayo to three points in the third quarter.

With five to go, and Mayo three down, all seemed lost, until McLoughlin rattled the net to set up a grandstand finish, and enable Hughes to step up and be the hero for the Green and Red under sun-splashed skies.

For a full report, plus reaction, please see Tuesday’s edition of The Mayo News