Top four finish for Under 16 girls
THE Mayo Under 16 girls finished fourth in Ireland at the Gaynor Cup tournament which concluded at the University of Limerick this morning.
Their third place play-off ultimately had to be decided by penalties after Mayo and opponents MGL both struck late goals, to make for a tense finish.
Management utilised their full squad, injuries having reduced Mayo to 18 fit players.
The opening exchanges were even and the first real chance was from a MGL corner when the ball was just headed over.
On 14 minutes Maria Cannon intercepted a Dublin attack and quickly counter attacked and fired a super diagonal shot just inches wide of the far corner. The game was end to end by now and both Roisin Kelly and Leah Conway gave excellent covering defending on two occasions.
The second half was only started when Mayo 'keeper Emma McNulty had to be really brave in diving at an incoming forward to make a top save, and getting an unfortunate boot in the nose for her heroics. Mayo continued to threaten and Ava Keane was unlucky on 27 minutes.
The Dublin side went ahead four minutes from time and things looked bleak. However, the Mayo girls kept plugging away, knowing there was a considerable amount of time lost to a Dublin injury.
Deep into added time a brilliantly floated Annie Gough free kick was headed into the top of the net by Kate O'Dowd. Cue manic celebrations and there was still time for another chance for Mayo and an unbelievable Hana Ueno clearance off the Mayo line.
At 1-1 it was to be decided by penalties, and after the initial five spot-kicks the sides were still tied at 4 -4. However, MGL eventually won 6-5.
The result meant Mayo finished fourth overall and while this squad has finished in the top four in Ireland in two of the past three years, this year feels like under-achievement by both players and staff.
Under 14s
The Mayo Under 14s were also in action at the same time as the Under 16s this morning, versus Galway. Again, management used the entire squad in this game to ensure all girls got good game time.
As has been the case all week, this was another tight game, with little separating the sides. Mayo, however, fell behind and couldn't retrieve it, and so finished in eighth position.