Kerry 0-10 Mayo 1-7 A late Colm O'Shea free proved enough for Kerry to salvage a draw and earn another crack at Mayo in Sunday's ESB All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park. After being level twice in the opening stages, the Connacht Champions stunned the young men from the Kingdom with an excellent goal from Sean McHale just shy of the quarter. Mayo full-back Kevin Keane marked Barry John Walsh to a tee throughout the hour, keeping the Kerry sharp-shooter scoreless from play, but the full-forward's accurate frees did prove significant towards the end. With Walsh kept at bay for most of the afternoon, the Westerners will be wondering how they let a win slip away here as they looked the far sharper side up front but 13 wides, including two after the game's final score, in injury time ultimately summed up their afternoon, while letting Kerry in for another chance. There were 35 seconds on the clock when Barry John Keane had Kerry off the mark, after losing his marker to raise the game's first white flag. James Cafferty drove forward from centre-field to boom over a reply for the Westerners, but that was soon met by Cian Tobin's fine point after the Spa club man dazzled past two Mayo defenders and slid the ball over the bar. Both Barry John Keane and Barry John Walsh squandered goal chances for Kerry thereafter, and when Caffery grabbed a second under similar circumstances to his first, Mayo were off the hook and level. Barry John Walsh had his first score of the game from a close range free on nine minutes before Mayo's Aodán Walsh sent his side's first goal chance wide of the post. Walsh made up for the miss moments later by holding up possession on the right flank for Sean McHale to come thundering through the centre of Kerry's defence and take the corner-forward's pass and blast to the centre of the net, giving Mayo a two-point advantage. Walsh's first score of the day from a 35 metre stretched that lead to three on 18 minutes, until Kerry's defenders began to chip in with scores. Corner-back Fionn Fitzgerald and centre-back Jonathan Lynne both registered singles for the Munster Champions to cut the deficit down to the minimum heading towards the closing stages of the half. James Cafferty summed up his opening half's contribution by squeezing over his third point from play and giving the Westerners a 1-4 to 0-5 lead to work with at the interval. Cathal Freeman and Colm O'Shea traded the openers of the second-half before BJ Walsh was perhaps given the ideal chance to turn the game for Kerry to turn the game. Superb work from Jack Sherwood provided Walsh with possession in front of goal, but the full-forward missed placed his effort for the top-corner of the Mayo net wide of the keeper's left-hand post. However, two sound frees from Walsh within five minutes of each other brought the Kingdom back level with Mayo. On 50 minutes Aodán Walsh secured a brace of his own with a free and a point from play coming within seconds of each other. BJ Walsh's fourth free was the reply and had Kerry trailing by one, until Jamie O'Donoghue was impeded 40 metres from goal just shy of the hour and Colm O'Shea shouldered the responsibility of the pressure free by splitting the posts and levelling the sides. Mayo still had the chances to win the game, but a free from Aodán Walsh and an effort from substitute Dean Gavin dropping wide, and with them confirming another meeting between the two sides to decide which team will take their place in the All-Ireland final. Kerry: B Kelly; P Reidy, B Shanahan, F Fitzgerald (0-1); P Crowley, J Lyne (0-1), M Hickey; J O'Sullivan, W Guthrie; M T O'Sullivan, D Casey, C O'Shea (0-2), BJ Keane (0-1), BJ Walsh (0-4) (4f), C Tobin (0-1). Subs: J Sherwood for J O'Sullivan (35); J O'Donoghue for Tobin (43); N O'Shea for MT O'Sullivan (45); P Geaney for Keane (52) Mayo: R Hennelly; D Dolan, K Keane, J Broderick; C Freeman (0-1), E Reilly, S Nally, J Cafferty (0-2), A Corduff (0-1); S McHale (1-0), A O'Shea, R Geraghty; D O'Hara, G McDonagh, A Walsh (0-3) (2f). Subs: L Cawley for O'Hara (30); D Gavin for Corduff (49) Ref: M Higgins (Fermanagh) Tweet

Most Read Stories