Louth's Pádraic Tinnelly celebrates at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland U-20FC Semi-Final
Louth 2-12 (2-2-8) Mayo 0-17 (0-3-11)
By Kevin Egan at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park
An incredible year for Louth football continues to break new ground every time a team from the county takes to the field, and they secured their place in the All-Ireland U20 football final for the first time in their history.
It fell to Adam Gillespie to punch the winning point in stoppage time at the end of a topsy-turvy finale when the two sides traded two-pointers and so traded the lead four times in the last 10 minutes. Louth were at their best in the first half however, when they attacked without hesitation or fear, creating four goal chances and taking two of them to establish a 2-5 to 0-8 interval lead.
It took four minutes for the scoring to be opened, but even before Shane Lennon set this contest alight with his perfectly-times run from deep and his cool finish, the two sides had gone close to raising green flags, with Diarmuid Duffy in particular going close, only to be denied by a superb Tiarnan Markey save.
Lennon, Tadhg McDonnell and Gillespie all found the target to help push Louth 1-4 to 0-3 in front, but Mayo took over from there and soon drew level on the back of good scores from Tomy Lydon inside, as well as some outstanding catches from Hugh O’Loughlin and Seamus Howard in the middle.
With the Leinster champions reeling, an explosive burst of pace from Pearse Grimes-Murphy was matched by an equally devastating finish, and Mayo’s best work was undone.
The second half was itself split into two completely contrasting spells. The third quarter was nervy and featured a huge share of the game’s 21 wides, and by the time Colm Lynch split the posts from distance in the 45th minute, the only additional score was from Grimes Murphy, another great goal chance that was parried over the bar by Dolan.
That haymaker from Lynch kicked off a great finish however, with the same player giving Mayo their first lead when he hoisted another over the bar from 45 metres out.
A huge turnover win from Cormac McKeown set up Tadhg McDonnell for another orange flag in reply, then Darragh Beirne defied the odds when he took a hard hit out on the sideline, needed two minutes of treatment and then brushed himself down to land another skyscraper kick from in front of the terrace.
With the sides trading blows, it seemed like a case of who would lead at the right time. James Maguire was fouled for Tiarnan Markey to send over another two-point free, Darragh Beirne levelled the tie again with another clutch point, and the contest ultimately came down to two late chances – an attacking mark from a tricky angle that Josh Carey sent inches wide, and Gillespie’s winner, punched over after Tadhg McDonnell opened up the Mayo defence and set up yet another famous score in a year of memorable moments for Louth football.
Scorers for Louth: Pearse Grimes-Murphy 1-3 (1tp), Shane Lennon 1-2, Adam Gillespie 0-2, Tiernan Markey 0-2 (1tpf), Tadhg McDonnell 0-1, James Maguire 0-1, Tony McDonnell 0-1.
Scorers for Mayo: Tom Lydon 0-5 (0-1f), Colm Lynch 0-4 (2tp), Darragh Beirne 0-4 (1tpf, 0-1f), Niall Hurley 0-2, Hugh O’Loughlin 0-1, Paul Gilmore 0-1.
Louth: Tiarnan Markey; Micheál Reid, Keelin Martin, Pádraic Tinnelly; Tadhg McDonnell, Cormac McKeown, Shane Lennon; Seán Callaghan, James Maguire; Conor McGinty, Conor Mac Críosta, Pearse Grimes-Murphy; Adam Gillespie, Tony McDonnell, Darragh Dorian.
Subs: Diarmuid Reilly for Mac Críosta (48), Dylan Shevlin for Dorian (53).
Mayo: David Dolan; Rio Mortimer, Yousif Coghill, John MacMonagle; Hugh O'Loughlin, Paul Gilmore, Colm McHale; Diarmuid Duffy, Seamus Howard; Oisín Cronin, Cathal Keaveney, Colm Lynch; Darragh Beirne, Niall Hurley, Tom Lydon.
Subs: Luke Feeney for Cronin (38), Dara Neary for Keaveney (41), Eoin McGreal for McHale (44), Josh Carey for Hurley (53), Oliver Armstrong for Howard (59).
Referee: Conor Dourneen (Cavan).
