Heartbreak for Mayo as Kerry secure All-Ireland U-16 title

LGFA ALL-IRELAND UNDER-16 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Mayo 0-5

Kerry 4-17

Mayo’s 49-year wait for All-Ireland Under-16 glory is set to go on, as they heartbreakingly suffered defeat at the hands of a top-brass Kerry side in Nenagh.

The girls from the South-West were clinical and ruthless in this decider, and they showed their class in a multitude of ways.

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Mayo gave it their all, and tried their best to get to grips with proceedings. However, they just couldn’t reel their opponents in, making it back-to-back final defeats.

The game started in nightmare fashion, with Mayo’s net breached within seconds. Lily Riordan had the ball out of her hands in a flash, and Meabh Lavin was powerless.

Regan’s girls did muster a response via Katie Hughes, but Jessie Lynch found her range for the Kingdom’s first white flag of the day.

Two singles from Mayo, including a fine effort from Aoibhinn McNamara, had the gap back to the minimum, but Kerry kept doing enough to widen the chasm, little by little.

Jessie Lynch got in on the act, before the Dingle woman was given a handy enough free following a kickout being played too short.

Patient Mayo build-up play was rewarded when Hughes got on the end to split the sticks, but Mayo were just getting too many things wrong, with some passes being just off and a few misfired shots.

Tom O’Connor’s troops continued to do damage in the meantime.

Julie O’Connor pushed the gap to five, and their direct running play paid dividends once more to devastating effect.

A Mayo kickout was pounced upon, and within a flash, Kelsey Cummins was bearing down on goal. Her shot was rasping as it squirmed under Lavin and into the onion bag, sparking wild scenes.

They weren’t done there, and Riordan, Lynch, and Cummins had the gap out to ten by the changeover.

Kerry picked up where they left off, with Jessie Lynch and Seoladh Flynn finding their range to keep the board ticking.

If Kerry hadn’t etched their name on the cup by that stage, they had by the 41st minute.

Leah Griffin was unstoppable as she surged through more tackles than you can count with an utterly stupendous run with yardage that her cousin, rugby international Ciara Griffin, would’ve been proud of.

Her three-pointer sealed the deal.

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Mayo kept putting their shoulder to the wheel, and credit must go to their never-ending resolve and outright refusal to stop playing for the sizeable Mayo support who made the trek to Nenagh.

However, from there, the game had somewhat petered out, and Julie O’Connor’s first net-shaker underscored their star quality.

Hughes added to her tally, but the mountain was just too steep, and by the time Eoghan O’Neill blew for full-time, the direction of the trophy was sealed, and a penalty save in the closing echelons was merely a footnote.

A full report, plus reaction, will be carried in Tuesday’s edition of The Mayo News.