MAYO ADVANCED TO the final of the Nicky Rackard Cup when they saw off the challenge of Donegal in a frantic finish in Letterkenny.
Donegal 2-11 Mayo 1-18
Donegal almost pulled it from the fire and there was a sense of grave disappointment in the air when time was finally blown.
Mayo might’ve had their feathers shaved but they will now take on Armagh in the final at Croke Park.
Today, there was only a point between the teams – 0-8 to 1-4 – with Mayo holding a slender advantage late in the first half but then, four points from Stuart Regan turned to game in favour of the Westerners.
And then in the second half, Mayo moved into a comfortable 10-point lead only for Donegal to halve those particular arrears.
However, Danny Cullen scored a second Donegal goal to put just three between them. It went from end to end from then on but in the end Mayo had just that little bit too much.
The Connacht side started the brighter and with more chalk on their cue, with Kenny Feeney finding is range in the sunshine. He had three-quarters of Mayo’s total by the ninth minute, with Joseph McManus also on the mark for a 0-4 to 0-0 lead.
Donegal, at that stage, had nothing bar three wides to their name but their sails soon bellowed when Sean McVeigh muscled his way through and set up Ciaran Mathewson to slam a goal low past Donal O’Brien in the Mayo goals on 12 minutes.
At the back, the side managed by Ardal McDermott more a little more disciplined to cut off the stream of placed balls and the hosts were more economical that their guests for a spell in attack. There was a crispness of championship hurling with the sun high overhead.
Danny Cullen and Niall Cleary popped over to bring some noise from the O’Donnell Park stand.
JP Coen’s Mayo, though, did well to keep Donegal at arm’s length, when Regan scored four late points – one excellent effort, followed by another which Donegal’s support yelped was wide and his third fizzed just over the crossbar.
Regan’s fourth on the spin was planted from the 65 and Kieran McDermott and Feeney’s free from similarly long distance made for a comfortable 0-13 to 1-5 Mayo lead at half-time.
[adrotate group=”37″]Darren McTigue, with two points in two minutes, showed Mayo wanted to continue their forward trajectory in the second half. Paul Burns, the Donegal goalkeeper, saved well from Feeney moments later.
Mayo were starting to knock and sooner or later the door was to open. A diagonal ball from Keith Higgins found McManus just left of centre on 42 minutes and he drilled home to create a 0-15 to 1-6 lead.
When McVeigh scored at the other end soon after, it was only Donegal’s second point in 24 minutes.
[adrotate group=”38″]Three Lee Henderson frees got Donegal back to within seven and then when Jack O’Loughlin also scored, the deficit was down to five, 1-15 to 1-10 with 13 minutes left.
Mayo steadied when Feeney scored a routine free – his sixth point of the afternoon and his side’s first score in some 19 minutes – in the closing stages.
With seven minutes to go Danny Cullen gave Donegal a lifeline when he hooked home a second goal after great st to leave just two between them, 2-11 to Mayo and 1-16 to Donegal.
With the decibel level now soaring, substitute Fergal Boland held his nerve to edge Mayo’s advantage out to three.
Feeney found Corey Scahill, another Mayo replacement, in the last minute of the 70 and his effort for goal in a one-on-one with Burns clattered only the Donegal side-netting. And the hosts could breathe again.
After another Feeney point, Donegal’s Kevin Campbell blasted a close-range free in the 74th minute and Mayo goalkeeper O’Brien saved. The follow-up from Henderson was just off target and with that, went Donegal’s chances.
Donegal: Paul Burns; Pauric Doherty, Justin McGhee, Mark Callaghan; Jack O’Loughlin (0-1), Jamsie Donnelly, Christopher McDermott; Danny Cullen (1-1), Ciaran Mathewson (1-0); Lee Henderson (0-6, 6f), Niall Cleary (0-1), Bernard Lafferty; Ronan McDermott, Stephen Gillespie, Sean McVeigh (0-1). Subs: Joe Boyle for McGhee (44), Kevin Campbell for Lafferty (49), Paddy Hannigan for Cleary (54), Corey Scahill for McTigue (62), Conor O’Donnell for Donnelly (68).
Mayo: Donal O’Brien; Eoin Collins, Gerard McManus, Brian Hunt; Cathal Freeman (0-1), Padraig O’Flynn, Austin Lyons; Ciaran Charlton, Kieran McDermott (0-1); Sean Regan (0-4), Keith Higgins, Joseph McManus (1-1); Darren McTigue (0-2), Kenny Feeney (0-7, 5f), Shane Boland (0-1). Subs: Patrick Connell and Fergal Boland (0-1) for Flynn and Lyons (half-time), David Kenny for McManus (53), Sean Mulroy for Boland (70).
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick).
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