Minor heartbreak as Mayo beaten at the death by Kerry

ALL-IRELAND MINOR SEMI-FINAL

Kerry 1-19

Mayo 3-10

In Ennis

FOR the second Sunday in succession a Mayo team was caught at the death and left the field of play with their season ended. On this occasion, it was the U-17s who came up just short in Ennis, seven days after the seniors were edged out in Hyde Park. Today's reversal was a tough one after the prospect of an appearance in the All-Ireland final looked very real just moments earlier.

Mayo had been backed by the stiff breeze in the opening half, but went to the mid-term break just a point clear, 2-5 to 1-7.

Kerry took over after the resumption and moved five points clear before a might Mayo revival took them back into contention. That response saw the Connacht boys a point up in injury time, but a late Kerry surge won the day for the Green and Gold and sent them into the final against Tyrone in two weeks time.

Mayo took some time to get going and didn't raise a flag until the eleventh minute but once the Green and Red got rolling they caused the Kerry backs all sorts of problems. Kerry were playing into a stiff wind in the opening 30 minutes but took little notice of that with two early points from corner-forward Ben Kelliher.

At the other end, Ben Holmes got Mayo off the mark with a classy point and midfielder Cian May soon put Mayo in front when he ran in from the right and buried the ball in the net. It was a settling score for the Connacht side but Kerry looked dangerous every time they attacked.

Alex Tuohy was getting on a huge amount of ball at wing-forward for the Munster champions and he had a goal shot well saved by Thomas Williams after 14 minutes before John Curtin put the rebound over the bar.

That was the pattern of the game at that stage. First one team scored, then the other. Kerry went a point clear after 22 minutes when midfielder Mark Ó Sé goaled but Mayo hit back before half-time when Dara Flanagan rolled home a penalty after Tony Carey was pulled down.

Kerry came out for the second half in determined fashion and a barrage of two-pointers had them 1-13 to 2-6 clear after 40 minutes.

Mayo were facing into the abyss at that stage, five behind and playing into a big wind. However, they refused to buckle and driven on by team captain Barry Langan, Adam Kelly and their colleagues they roared back.

Two points from Flanagan, another from Conor Hession and a goal from Oran Murphy had them level with 12 minutes to play. Scores were swapped as time ticked away and when Ben Holmes landed a fine point a minute into injury-time it seemed as if the Mayo boys would do it.

However, Kerry finished on the front foot and four points in the next three minutes sent the Munster boys into the final and ended Mayo's season in the cruelest of circumstances.

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