Bright start paves way for Cavan victory

All-Ireland U-16 A final

Cavan 3-11 Mayo 2-5

By Oisín McGovern

A DEVASTATING opening 15 minutes was the key to Cavan retaining the All-Ireland U-16 A title at Mayo’s expense at Duggan Park in Ballinasloe.

The Breffni girls shot 3-6 in the opening quarter, leaving far too big of a gap for Mayo to recover from, despite their best efforts.

A superb display from Cavan captain Emilia Mussi and an effective defence were among the hallmarks of a solid winning display in a contest that was won in the first half.

The game could not have started any better for Cavan, who had the ball in the Mayo net in the first minute through Katie McGahern after Mussi charged through and saw her shot rebound off the post.

Mayo conceded 2-4 in the next five minutes from four different scorers, with Cavan centre-forward Abby Reilly putting her side ten points up when she finished to the net after a clever hand-pass from McGahern.

Emma Stagg eventually opened the scoring for Mayo with a twelfth-minute free. However, the Connacht champions were knocked back when McGahern once again teed up Reilly to fire a shot in the Mayo net, putting the Ulster champions fourteen points up.

With a relentless attacking energy and athleticism, Cavan kept attacking down the middle at the heart of the Mayo defence, forcing two saves from Mayo goalkeeper Kayla Hughes.

The Connacht girls slowly gained momentum, adding points from Katie Hughes and Lily Hession (a free) before Hughes directed a long ball into full-forward Stagg, who shook the Cavan net with a fine finish.

Mayo ended the half on a high with a point from Aoibhinn McNamara, but were still 3-7 to 1-4 adrift on a warm day in Ballinasloe.

Cavan missed the chance to go further ahead when Kayla Hughes made a superb double-save from a Reilly penalty in the 36th minute.

Cavan added three more from Sarah McAvinney (2) and Reilly before Mayo struck a nearly identical goal to their first when Stagg received a long ball from Katie Hughes and drove into the net off the crossbar.

This still left the chasers nine points adrift, and ultimately it was Cavan that won out despite only scoring four points in the second half.

Scorers – Cavan: A Reilly 2-3, K McGahern 1-0, N McCaffrey 0-3 (1 free), S McAvinney 0-2, E Mussi, J Hetherton, C Crowe 0-1 each.

Mayo: E Stagg 2-1 (0-1f), A McNamara, Katie Hughes, L Hession (free), E Duffy 0-1 each.

CAVAN: F Higgins; K McSeain, A Crowe, H Forde Peat; K Comaskey, C Crowe, G McCabe; E Mussi (capt.), E Gannon; B Quaile, A Reilly, S McAvinney; N McCaffrey, M Smith, K McGahern. Subs: J Hetherton for Smith (27), C Brennan for Comaskey (39), S Farrelly for Quaile (58), K O’Reilly for McCaffrey (58), L Matthews for Gannon (62).

MAYO: Kayla Hughes; C Dowling, I Basquille, C Cullen; A Doherty, E Higgins (capt.), S Tieran; S Dempsey, L Hession; A McNamara, L McHale, S McGuinness; K Byrne, E Stagg, Katie Hughes. Subs: E Duffy for McHale (39), G Bailey for McNamara (39), D Guilfoyle for Tiernan (49), A Ferguson for Dempsey (51), A Lynn for K Hughes (51)

Referee: Anthony Marren (Monaghan).