Mayo 3-16 Galway 1-12, Hastings Insurance MacHale Park

Mayo’s U20 footballers this evening made it four wins in a row in this year’s Connacht championship as they beat Galway by ten points at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park to advance directly to the Connacht final in a fortnight’s time.

With a strong wind at their backs playing into the bacon factory end, Mayo came roaring out of the traps and they built up a commanding twelve-point lead by half-time.

Darragh Beirne opened the home team’s account with a two-point free. Scores from play for Galway from Coen and Mitchell levelled it up but Mayo then hit the Tribesmen with a barrage of scores to surge clear.

After Oisín Deane bagged a one-point score, Joey Holmes, Kobe McDonald and Darragh Beirne all swung over two-pointers from play. Mulhearn pulled one back from a free but that was answered in kind by Darragh Beirne at the other end.

Then on 18 minutes Kobe McDonald rose to claim primary possession close to fifty yards out, batting the ball down to himself before setting off at speed towards goal. As was the case on his senior county debut up in Clones, the Deel Rovers player had only one thing on his mind as he bore down on goal. He picked his spot and rammed the ball low to the far corner of the net.

The same player had the ball in the net for a second time a few minutes later. This time Oisín Deane and Tom Lydon had significant parts to play in the build-up, the latter offloading to McDonald who smashed it to the net.

Galway responded with a free by Mulryan on the stroke of half-time as Mayo took a twelve-point lead into the break.

The visitors bagged the first three scores on the resumption, with a point from play by Collins and frees from Mulryan and Mulhearn, but a succession of bad wides saw them leave further scores behind them.

Nice combination work from Rio Mortimer and Darragh Beirne set up Kobe McDonald for Mayo’s first score of the second half. Mulryan immediately afterwards rammed over an excellent rejoinder from just inside the arc.

A nice pop pass from Rio Mortimer sent Oisín Deane clear and he shot over from a central position. The same player got the next score too, Colm Lynch the provider for this one, with the Crossmolina player on an advantage for a jersey pull before he shot over.

Mayo’s third goal came soon after. The home team were claiming a breach in the lead-up but the officials let the play proceed. As it did Tom Lydon fed Dylan Flynn who hit a piledriver to the net as Keith Higgins’ charges extended their lead to 14 points.

The Galway fans at MacHale Park finally got something to shout about when Mulryan knocked over a two-point free from outside the ’45. He followed this up a minute later with a second two-point free, this one on the edge of the arc.

Mayo’s captain Colm Lynch then added to his side’s tally, clipping over after a surging run through the middle. This was followed by close-in free from Darragh Beirne.

Galway then bagged a goal to match the quality of the three Mayo had already racked up. It was a solo effort from Mulryan who took on the Mayo backline himself, turning and twisting before stabbing the ball past Conor Meaney into the corner.

With time running out Colm Lynch went on another surging forward run before cutting back inside and knocking it over off his left to seal a ten-point win for the home team.

This evening’s victory means that Mayo now have a week off and will play the winners of next week’s semi-final between Galway and Roscommon in the provincial decider where the county will be aiming to clinch back-to-back Connacht U20 titles.

Mayo: Conor Meaney; James Lavelle, Tom Lambert, Aaron Coggins; Colm Lynch (0-2), Rio Mortimer, Josh Moyles; Darragh Staunton, Joey Holmes (0-2, 2pt); Andrew Quinn, Kobe McDonald (2-3, one 2pt) Dylan Flynn (1-0); Darragh Beirne (0-6, two 2pt (one free) and two frees), Oisín Deane (0-3), Tom Lydon. Subs: Dara Neary for Holmes, Nathan Roddy for Lydon, Yousif Coghill for Coggins, Shane Cunningham for Staunton.