Brave Mayo effort comes up just short in thrilling Connacht final
Thrilling Connacht decider ends with Galway pipping Mayo at the post
LGFA CONNACHT U-16 FINAL
Mayo 2-5
Galway 2-7
In Connacht Centre of Excellence
Sunshine and rainbows, shirt-sleeves and raincoats - this hugely entertaining encounter was played out in a mad mixture of weather systems.
Galway had won impressively when the two sides met earlier in the championship, but it was a totally different story on Friday night. Mayo played with style, skill and huge heart. They tore into every challenge and with a sprinkling of luck and a few different decisions from the referee they would now be Connacht champions.
Mayo were backed by the stiff breeze in the opening half and led 1-4 to 0-3 at the interval. Galway began the second half ferociously and were soon three in front, but Mayo powered back to level the game going down the home straight. Then, two points in injury-time clinched the deal for the girls in maroon at the end of a thriller.
Mayo led 0-4 to 0-1 after 25 minutes. Points from Ríona Kelly, Saoírse Reynolds, Mikayla McLoughlin and Emily Gavin only elicited a single white flag in response from Galway’s Toraí Flynn. Mayo had been denied a goal after 17 minutes when McLoughlin had the ball in the net but the referee deemed there had been a throw in the build-up.
The goal Mayo craved and deserved arrived five minutes before the break when McLoughlin raised the green flag after her first effort had been saved by Maria Cronnolly. That left Mayo six clear, but late points from Kym McNulty and Laoibhaoise Keane left four in it at the interval.
Galway were level and in front five minutes into the new half. A goal from Ellie Harty O’Brien and a point from Siún Cullinan balanced the scores before McNulty brilliantly finished a rather debatable penalty.
It seemed as if Galway would power to victory after that, but Mayo refused to fade away. The Green and Red were exceptional for the rest of the game. Wing-backs Leah McNamara and Emily Higgins led the charge time and time again while centre-forward Emma Sheridan played her heart out.
They powered forward in search of scores and when Robyn Butler sent a free-kick to the Galway net after 45 minutes the scores were level again. Cullinan and Butler exchanged points in the following minutes and the teams were still locked together as injury-time arrived.
Both sides had chances to win it and Mayo were playing some fine football. However, the wind advantage eventually proved decisive and very late points from Cullinan and Katie Brogan won the title for Galway at the end of a thrilling and well-contested decider where sunshine and torrential rain also made telling appearances.
A full report will be carried in Tuesday’s Mayo News.