Kerry are back in the TG4 Ladies All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final.
They defeated Mayo 1-16 to 1-11 in Semple Stadium, Thurles following a dominant opening period.
Kerry joint manager Declan Quill
Kingdom players Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh and Louise Galvin
It took 5 minutes for the opening score to arrive, a Kerry point through Hannah O'Donoghue. Mayo went right down the other end to equalise before a Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh free had the Kingdom back in front. Again Mayo responded with a point and it was 2 all after 11 minutes.
A fine point from distance courtesy of Hannah O'Donoghue nudged Kerry in front once more. Almost immediately O’Donoghue pointed again, a score very quickly added to by an Emma Costello point. The purple patch continued with a Ní Mhuircheartaigh score. It meant that at the midway point of the period Kerry led by 6 points to 2. Two minutes later the Kingdom advantage had increased by 2. Thirteen minutes from the break came the opening goal. A long ball in was fielded by Danielle O'Leary, who in turn supplied for Ní Mhuircheartaigh to palm home.
When the same player then put over it was Kerry 1-9 Mayo 0-2. Kerry looked in for a second goal with 6 minutes to go but a Hannah O'Donoghue effort was well saved as the keeper advanced to smother the effort. Kerry were 9 to the good at the break, 1-10 to 4 points.
Mayo had 2 of the first 3 points of the second half but after 10 minutes of the period had only closed the gap by one at 1-11 to 0-6. The sides swapped points before a Deirdre Doherty goal brought Mayo within 5. Mayo had upped the intensity and it was 1-12 to 1-7 with 16 minutes to go. Kerry had the next score, a point with 10 minutes remaining, and the gap was 6.
Mayo brought is back to a 5 point game heading towards the final 9 minutes.
The deficit was reduced to 4 with 8 to go but back up to 5 inside a minute. Mayo were on top but couldn't punish a resilient Kingdom. The sides swapped points once more, Kerry ahead 1-15 to 1-10 inside the closing 5 minutes. Danielle O'Leary made it a 6 point game with 3 minutes to go.
The final will be against Dublin @ 4 on Sun 13th Aug. That’s after the Dubs overcame Cork by 2-19 to 13 points in the last four.
