Mayo are on course for their first minor All-Ireland in six years.
The future looks bright for Mayo.
Fans at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in Longford, on Saturday evening, were treated to a couple of cracking minor quarter finals.
Galway beat Kildare to reach the semis in the late throw-in, while most in the stands were left breathless after witnessing a seven-goal thriller between Mayo and Dublin.
The final scoreline was 5-12 to 2-19 and Mayo edged the contest by two points. Dublin may have managed 21 scores but Mayo’s 17 contained five goals that were crucial in the winning of the game.
Mayo raced into a 2-3 to 0-2 lead after just 15 minutes after a fine Paul Walsh goal [below] and when Ciaran Mylett fisted the ball home from close range.
Great score for Mayo minor Paul Walsh
Dublin goalie will be disappointed, thoughpic.twitter.com/GSqGgKCTh3
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 27, 2019
The westerners led by six points at the break and were as much as eight clear when Ethan Henry scored their third goal of the game. With 10 minutes to go, though, a goal-glut saw the scoreboard working overtime.
Tomas Morley’s side grabbed their fourth, and best, goal of the game when half-back Ruairi Keane received a pass on his own 45 and embarked on an astonishing run that left seven Dublin players in his wake.
Keane scorched the Dublin defence before riding a hefty challenge, correcting himself and scoring past Hugh O’Sullivan:
Ruairi Keane with a serious goal for @MayoGAA. pic.twitter.com/Kp4TLtJHA0
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 27, 2019
While most times would have badly flagged, Dublin responded with two goals of their own, in the space of 90 seconds.
That made it 4-9 to 2-16 and Dublin suddenly had a one-point lead. There was still time for more scores as both attacks ran riot.
Dublin popped over three more points but the clincher was scored by Mayo forward Rory Morrin. That made it 5-10 to 2-17 with five minutes to go.
Mayo still needed a goal-line clearance and an insurance score in injury time to get over the line. In the later game, the young bucks from Galway defeated Kildare 2-17 to 0-15.
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