Kerry 3-16
Mayo 3-13
(after extra-time)

Kerry booked their place in this year's All-Ireland SFC final when edging an epic extra-time encounter against Mayo in the Gaelic Grounds this evening.

A fisted injury-time point by Mayo half-back Donal Vaughan sent the entertaining tie into extra-time as the sides finished level on 3-11 apiece after normal time but points from Jonathan Lyne (2) and Paul Geaney in the second period of extra-time eventually broke Mayo's brave resistance.

An attendance of 36,256 witnessed James O'Donoghue shoot 2-6 for Kerry while Cillian O'Connor was on target with 2-5 for the men from the west.

O'Connor played a pivotal role in establishing a 2-5 to 1-5 half-time lead for the Connacht champions.

The Mayo number 13 put his name to all bar two points of his team's first half total and his first green flag arrived via the penalty spot after he was fouled by Shane Enright in the 17th minute.

For the second week running O'Connor cooly dispatched a spot-kick past Brian Kelly and, four minutes later, he struck for his second goal following good approach play by Aidan O'Shea.

The Kingdom were very much on the back foot at that stage as they trailed by 0-2 to 2-3 but, at the other end of the field, Kieran Donaghy was causing all sorts of problems for Mayo full-back Ger Cafferkey and Eamonn Fitzmaurice's decision to start him paid off in the 29th minute when he found the back of the Mayo net.

An O'Donoghue shot at goal was half-blocked by Keith Higgins but the rebound fell kindly for the Austin Stacks clubman who made no mistake from close range.

Kerry's hand was weakened four minutes after the resumption when captain Fionn Fitzgerald was black-carded for a deliberate hand trip on his Mayo counterpart Andy Moran but O'Donoghue hit his second point of the contest in the 42nd minute to cut the gap to three.

A minute later the long ball into Donaghy reaped handsome dividends for Kerry once again as 'Star' outfielded Cafferkey before teeing up his partner in crime who was fouled for a penalty.

The Kerry number 15 sent Rob Hennelly the wrong way and the sides were level - 2-6 apiece - with 27 minutes to play.

O'Donoghue struck again in the 46th minute to give Kerry the lead and Marc O Se sent over an inspirational point in the 50th minute to give his team a two-point cushion.

But, to their credit, Mayo refused to raise the white flag and Andy Moran punished a handling error by Kerry 'keeper Brian Kelly to net his team's third goal and with 10 minutes to go and the scoreboard read 3-9 to 2-11 in their favour.

The momentum swung back in Kerry's favour, however, when referee Cormac Reilly signalled for a third penalty after Cafferkey fouled O'Donoghue as he went for a goal in the 62nd minute.

It was a debatable decision by the Meath official to say the least but O'Donoghue displayed nerves of steel to beat Hennelly for the second time.

It was edge of the seat stuff in the closing stages and Vaughan came to Mayo's rescue when fisting a point to square matters two minutes into injury-time.

Two points in quick succession from O'Connor and Kevin McLoughlin placed Mayo in the driving seat at the start of extra-time but two soft frees, converted by Barry John Keane, got Kerry back on level terms by the halfway stage, 3-13 each.

A suspected groin injury brought O'Donoghue's participation to a premature end but Lyne and Geaney sent over the all-important scores to bring Mayo's bid for a third successive All-Ireland final appearance to an end.

Mayo's woes were compounded when O'Connor was red-carded late on.

Kerry - B Kelly; K Young (0-1), A O'Mahony, S Enright; P Murphy, P Crowley, F Fitzgerald; A Maher, D Moran; M Geaney, J Buckley, D Walsh; K Donaghy (1-0), P Geaney (0-4, 3f), J O'Donoghue (2-6, 2-0pen, 0-2f). Subs: M O Se (0-1) for S Enright, P Kilkenny for F Fitzgerald (BC), BJ Keane (0-2f) for P Geaney, Declan O'Sullivan for J Buckley, K O'Leary for M Geaney, J Lyne (0-2) for D Walsh, M Griffin for P Crowley, Paul Geaney for J O'Donoghue, B Sheehan for A O'Mahony.

Mayo - R Hennelly; T Cunniffe, G Cafferkey, K Higgins; L Keegan, C Boyle, D Vaughan (0-1); B Moran, S O'Shea; K McLoughlin (0-1), A O'Shea, J Doherty (0-3); C O'Connor (2-5, 1-0pen, 0-3f), A Moran (1-1), A Dillon. Subs: T Parsons for B Moran,, M Conroy (0-1) for A Dillon, K Keane for G Cafferkey, R Feeney for A O'Shea, A Freeman (0-1f) for A Moran, B Harrison for D Vaughan, A O'Shea for S O'Shea, C Barrett for C Boyle.

Referee - C Reilly.

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