Gerald's denied at the death in thrilling semi-final

THE cruel, brilliant savagery of sport was on full view in Limerick this afternoon when St Gerald's of Castlebar came within inches of an All-Ireland final. The scoreboard might say the boys in blue were five points adrift at the end of a pulsating battle with Munster champions Tralee CBS, but that statistic is very misleading. 

The Mayo boys were a point down and pressing for an equaliser, 90 seconds ahead of the full-time whistle, before breakaway scores sent Tralee to Croke Park. That, in essence, was the story of the day.

Gerald's fought like tigers for every breaking ball and every inch of ground, but Tralee were more clinical in front of goal and their four goals proved that in a 4-11 to 1-15 victory. 

The Gerald's goal came from the penalty spot after 20 minutes when Paul Hurst found the net after Conor Hoban was fouled. Tralee's net-shakers arrived after 14, 39, 41 and 63 minutes - all from play.

Full-forward Gearoid White's goal after 39 minutes was an outstanding display of pace, power and precision. It came at a time when Gerald's has built a four-point lead and were playing all the football, but Tralee's ability to get scores at vital times, proved decisive.

Two more Tralee goal chances were brilliantly saved by Oisin Costello in the first half, but the Castlebar students ability to fight for everything created more than enough chances at their business end of the pitch. Evan Walsh and Joe Forry were prominent all day and the terrific tackling of the Gerald's boys left Tralee shaking their heads at times.

Gerald's were in the ascendancy on a number of occasions during the match but failed to drive home their advantage on the scoreboard and Tralee's ability to hit big scores was becoming more and more important.

Tralee's wing-back, Mikey Corridon was a constant thorn in Geralds' side and dorve forward time and time again.

The sides were level a minute from the end of normal time when Tralee's midfielder Máirtín McKivergan drilled over a stunning two-point free from the right wing and it seemed all over at that stage, but Gerald's came again.

They swept forward for Forry to half the deficit and leave them just one behind. However, they just couldn't get through the Tralee cover one more time and the Kerry boys broke out for a late point and a goal to seal their place in the final in Croke Park.

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