Redmond the key for Mayo
Wexford Schoolboys 0
Mayo Schoolboys League 1
THE Mayo Under 13s booked their place in the Under 13 semi-final after a hard fought victory over Wexford at Bunclody FC .
The opposition in the last four will be Cork Schoolboys League at the end of this month – provisionally on the weekend of April 29/20 in Solar 21 Park - and is a repeat of last season's Under 12 final, which Cork won two-nil.
Despite the 650km round trip, Mayo started brightly and had the home team on the backfoot from the first whistle. Five minutes in striker Mark Leonard had the first effort when he drove forward after an excellent ball from Conor Carey. His strike landed on the roof of the net much to the relief of the home support who saw the net ripple.
On a water sodden pitch, Wexford began to find their rhythm and their powerful striker was beginning to be a handful with the amount of back to front ball that was played into him. However, centre pack pairing of Ethan Duffy and the impressive Henry Noone were well marshalled and gave nothing away. This in fact was Noone’s first ever game at this level when he was drafted in as a last minute replacement for the ill Ethan Kelly.
Both full-backs Josh O’Malley and the lively John Mulroy tucked in when needed for extra cover and were also a constant threat bombing forward.
It was Wexford however who nearly opened the scoring when a poor clearance found the big number nine but Mulroy was in the right place to make a goal line clearance. Both teams found the surface tricky with Mayo in particular struggling to get their slick passing game going and despite several half chances from both teams went into the interval scoreless.
Mayo regrouped and came out for the second half with renewed vigour. The middle three of captain Mattie Vahey, Kian Redmond and Conor Carey now took the game by the scruff of the neck and drove their side forward at every opportunity ably supported by wide players Tony Cunningham and Robbie Ruane.
Ten minutes in and Mayo got the breakthrough their hard work deserved. Vahey fed a diagonal ball to Cunningham who left his marker for dead and supplied a peach of a pass to Mark Leonard. The striker drove forward before brilliantly linking up with the inrushing Redmond who cooly finished under the advancing keeper.
Wexford now upped their own game in the belief that teams are most vulnerable after scoring and this was almost the case when their 11 cleverly slipped in their big striker but keeper Ryan Nolan spread himself well for a superb one-on-one save.
Mayo had their backs to the wall for a while at this stage but this group are made of stern stuff and again, Mayo were denied a second goal when Leonard was pulled up for a marginal offside after netting in the bottom corner. Conor Carey was then very unlucky to see his effort drift wide of the back post.
Wexford came again but found Nolan in superb form making another two inspiring saves.
Mayo game managed the last five minutes to see out an impressive away win overall deserving the victory
As mentioned before keeper Nolan was superb throughout while his back four were equally impressive with an interesting battle between the two big men Ethan Duffy and JP Power. Mayo’s Duffy coming out on top.
The Mayo engine room of Vahey, Redmond and Carey fought for every ball and when given the opportunity drove forward with real purpose.
Cunningham on the right was a menace with his pinpoint deliveries while on the opposite flank Robbie Ruane is a joy to watch with an absolute wand of a left peg, Leonard up top is the real deal with his constant running and link up play. Rian Gavin was introduced and added the steel that was needed to see out the game.
This is however a collective squad effort and while James Heaney, Thady Hoban, Sean Nolan and Mattie Daly did not het game time in this match, they have all contributed massively over the league campaign. The coaching staff were well pleased with the team effort but know there is still more within this talented squad. Finally, it would be amiss not to mention all the parents who travelled and who all put in huge support for this team.