Late goals kill off Mayo's hopes
A FLURRY of late goals for Dublin crushed Mayo's challenge in the TG4 All-Ireland ladies senior football final at Croke Park today, the new champions winning by 4-11 to 0-11.
Dublin had lost the last three finals to Cork but finally got their hands on the Brendan Martin Cup for a second time. It's their first title win since 2010.
For Mayo, it was a quest for a first All-Ireland title since 2003, but it wasn't to be as the day belonged to Dublin in Croke Park.
Dublin scored three goals in a five-minute spell late on to put a big gap between the teams at full-time, but it was a tight affair for a large portion of the game.
Sarah McCaffrey, sister of 2015 Footballer of the Year Jack, came off the bench to score two of those late goals, while Carla Rowe was also on target in that purple patch.
Dublin were just three points clear – 1-10 to 0-10 – with 10 minutes remaining before the floodgates opened, as the loss of defender Orla Conlon to a sin-binning began to tell.
In total, Mayo had three players sin-binned during the game, and tiring legs towards the end left gaps that Dublin clinically exploited.
A goal by Niamh McEvoy separted the sides at the break, the Leinster champions leading 1-6 to 0-6, and it could have been worse for Mayo as they saw a Dublin effort come back off the post and withstood a penalty kick.
Mayo 'keeper Yvonne Byrne was sin-binned for the foul that gave away the penalty but substitute goalie Aisling Tarpey, with her first touch, denied Sinéad Aherne from the spot.
Rachel Kearns was also yellow-carded in the closing stages of the first half but Mayo worked incredibly hard to keep the deficit to three either side of the break. They were guilty, however, of some poor attempts from scoring positions with space at a premium, especially for Cora Staunton as she was double-marked by the Dublin defenders.
Staunton still managed seven points, four from frees, in the course of the game, with Grace Kelly nailing two plus one each for Niamh Kelly and the impressive Aileen Gilroy.
Try as they might in the second half, Mayo couldn't get any closer than three points, and it was those late goals that sealed Dublin's win after three successive defeats on All-Ireland final day.
Mayo: Y. Byrne; O. Conlon, S. Tierney, M. Carter; R. Kearns, M. Corbett, F. Doherty; A. Gilroy (0-1), F. McHale; D. Hughes, N. Kelly (0-1), C. Whyte; S. Rowe, C. Staunton (0-7, 4f), G. Kelly (0-2).
Subs used: A. Tarpey, C. Whyte, A. Dowling, S. Howley.
Dublin: C. Trant; M. Byrne, S. Finnegan, R. Ruddy; S. Goldrick, N. Collins, L. Caffrey; L. Magee, O. Carey; C. Rowe (1-1), L. Davey, N. Owens; S. Aherne (0-9, 7f), N. McEvoy (1-1), N. Healy.
Subs used: D. Murphy, F. Hudson, S. McCaffrey (2-0), M. Lamb, H. O’Neill.
Referee: S. Mulvihill (Kerry).