O’Shea rescues Kingdom in thriller

A POINT from a free by Colin O’Shea in the 60th minute earned Kerry a draw in a splendid All-Ireland minor football championship semi-final at Croke Park yesterday.

Mayo will have nightmares about this game. They dominated proceedings for long periods, but the county’s poor finishing came back to haunt them, and if they eventually go out of the competition, they’ll have only themselves to blame.

The Connacht champions kicked 13 wides to Kerry’s eight. The teams were level four times and in the final analysis a draw was a fair result.

Barry John Keane got Kerry off to a flying start with a point after 50 seconds, but it was obvious that they had a right battle on their hands from a physically stronger Mayo side.

Aidan O’Shea at centre forward, all 6’3” of him, caused endless problems for Jonathan Lane and with James Cafferty orchestrating matters at midfield for the Connacht champions, the sides were level twice in the opening six minutes after BJ Keane (0-1) and Cafferty (0-2) landed points.

Kerry’s use of the long ball into their forwards bore little fruit against a very solid Mayo defence in which full back Kevin Keane kept a very tight rein on Barry John Walsh.

In an effort to try and curb the influence of Aidan O’Shea at centre forward, Kerry switched Peter Crowley over on him and both players received yellow cards seconds later for jersey pulling.

A timely block by David Dolan denied Barry John Keane a goal chance before BJ Walsh edged Kerry in front with a point from a close-in free.

Mayo kicked five wides in a row before they finally found the target for a goal. A long ball into the Kerry defence found Aidan Walsh who in turn put Sean McHale through and his powerful kick found the net off the upright for a goal that Mayo’s outfield play deserved. Kerry were struggling, particularly around midfield where Mayo’s James Cafferty was hugely influential, but they were back in the game with points by two defenders Fionn Fitzgerald and Jonathan Lyne who joined in attacks and were fortunate to be only a point adrift after 25 minutes.

However James Cafferty continued to trouble Kerry in midfield and it was fitting that he should have the last score of the half, his third point, and the westerners were full value for their 1-4 to 0-5 half-time lead.

Kerry moved to remedy their midfield deficiencies by bringing in Jack Sherwood for Jamie O’Sullivan and moving centre forward Daithi Casey out to partner Wayne Guthrie and it worked to a degree.

Points were exchanged before Sherwood set up Barry John Walsh for a goal chance, but with only the Mayo ‘keeper to beat, he blazed wide from 12 metres out.

However Walsh redeemed himself with a brace of points to tie the game for a third time with 15 minutes left.

As the tension mounted, both sides were guilty of poor finishing, Mayo the bigger culprits, but they were grateful for the accuracy of Aidan Walsh from play as he edged his side in front with two excellent points.

Despite winning more than their share of midfield possession, Kerry struggled for scores as Mayo’s full back Kevin Keane continued to dominate against Barry John Walsh, and it was only when Jamie O’Donoghue and Paul Geaney were eventually introduced that the Munster champions began to prise open the Mayo defence.

O’Donoghue engineered a close-in free which Barry John Walsh pointed to leave a point between the sides with eight minutes of normal time to go.

Kerry continued to press forward and they were gifted a 20 metre free by the referee who penalised Carney for what looked a fair shoulder charge on O’Donoghue, and Colm O’Shea came to Kerry’s rescue with the equalising point at the end of 60 minutes.

Mayo did have one final chance to win the match but Aidan Walsh’s 30-yard free dropped short.

Scorers for Kerry: BJ Walsh 0-4 (frees); BJ Keane, C O’Shea (0-1f) 0-2 each; F Fitzgerald, J Lane 0-1 each.

Scorers for Mayo: A Walsh 0-3 (0-1f); J Cafferty 0-3; S McHale 1-0; C Freeman 0-1.

KERRY: B Kelly; P Reidy, B Shanahan, F Fitzgerald; P Crowley, J Lane, M Hickey; J O’Sullivan, W Guthrie; MT O’Sullivan, D Casey, C O’Shea; BJ Keane, BJ Walsh, C. Tobin.

Subs: J Sherwood for J O’Sullivan (half time); J O’Donoghue for Tobin (42); N O’Shea for MT O’Sullivan (44); P Geaney for BJ Keane (53).

MAYO: R Hennelly; D Dolan, K Keane, J Broderick; C Freeman, E Reilly, S Nally; J Cafferty, A Corduff; S McHale, A O’Shea, R Geraghty; D O’Hara, G McDonagh, A Walsh.

Subs: L Cawley for O’Hara (30); D Gavin for Corduff (48); J Carney for Cawley (53).

Referee: M Higgins (Fermanagh).