U21FC: Kingdom pushed by Mayo

April 20, 2008
Mayo will be disappointed to have let Kerry back into the Cadbury's All-Ireland under-21 semi final as the Kingdom progressed to the decider following their clash at Nenagh on Saturday afternoon. Kerry 1-9 Mayo 1-7 The main talking point before the game was that Mayo senior Aidan Campbell had been left out of the starting line up for allegedly breaching squad rules, but he was introduced five minutes before the break and made a telling contribution. It looked as if the Connacht champions had done enough to earn their place in the final, but a succession of points by Paul O'Connor, David Moran and the impressive Tommy Walsh saw Kerry shade this clash by two points. The outlook of the match was very different just after half time as Kerry looked to be cruising to victory as they led by 1-6 to 0-3 thanks to a Johnny Buckley goal after good work by Walsh. Mayo appeared dead and buried, but a fortuitous goal by Mikey Sweeney in the 38th minute brought them right back into contention and four unanswered points from Tom Cunniffe, Seamus O'Shea, Padraig O'Connor, and Sweeney saw the Westerners go into a one-point lead with just seven minutes remaining. Mayo looked to be in the ascendancy at this stage, but Kerry rallied and hit the three points without reply to secure their place in the final.

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