WOMEN'S ALL-IRELAND FOOTBALL FINAL/Mayo ... 0-12 Monaghan ... 1-8: A dream came true for 17 years old Leaving Cert student Triona McNicholas at Croke Park yesterday. She was the toast of the delirious Mayo fans in the record 22,783 crowd who delighted in the thrills of an exhilarating women's All-Ireland senior football final.
The young Moy Davitts player kicked the winning point in injury time after she had replaced attack leader Emma Mullan early in the second half of a titantic struggle.
And the wealth of talent in a game that lived up to its expectations as a likely cliff-hanger was such that young McNicholas was probably only third in line for the woman-of-the-match award. This went to the industrious Marcella Heffernan, to complete her celebrations of her 24th birthday.
Cora Staunton's contribution of eight points also made her a strong candidate for the best individual award.
Afterwards McNicholas couldn't care less about any individual reward and instead delighted in the knowledge that she had played such a major role in her county's third success in four successive finals.
The closing stages provided a hectic passage of play as the sound of the hooter for full-time beckoned. Marcella Heffernan had, a little earlier, levelled the scores for the second time in the second half. It was fast and furious stuff.
"I didn't know what was going on. I ran on to a good pass from Cora Staunton and just went for it, thankfully it went over," said McNicholas.
Finbarr Egan, the Mayo manager who made the astute move of bringing McNicholas into the attack just eight minutes into the second half was thrilled by the outcome. "She is only a youngster with a great future in the sport," he said.
Despite Monaghan having great play-maker in attack leader and captain Niamh Kindlon who was their top scorer with four points, the Mayo defence earned top marks for covering off dangerous moves.
But there was little any defence could do against the powerful run and searing shot by Monaghan's Edel Byrne who remains in the record books as the youngest player, at 15, to win All-Ireland medal five years ago.
Byrne's great goal two minutes before half-time was a real match feature that gave Monaghan the lead for the secoind time. She took on the Mayo cover single-handed and rounded off a 40 metres run by slotting the ball off her left foot into the right corner of Denise Horan's goal.
Byrne had thus redressed a slow beginning by Monaghan who had only three points on the board deep into the second quarter. The goal followed two quick points by Brenda McAnespie and Kindlon to set up the Ulster champions with a 1-5 to 0-7 interval lead.
Mayo felt a little apprehensive during the half-time break. Staunton revealed: "We sat down for five minutes to try and analyse what went wrong."
Monaghan were first into attack in an effort to consolidate their position from the restart and Kindlon stretched the lead with a great point.
Gradually, the staunch work of Edel Biggins, Claire Egan, Edel Reilly, the tireless Christina Heffernan, her sister Marcella and Staunton began to pay off.
Marcella Heffernan equalised at 0-9 to 1-6 in the 40th minute but Mayo could hardy be satisfied with their scoring rate midway through the second half, and even reliables like Staunton were among the culprits with wayward shooting.
When Monaghan survived the storm, they snapped back into attack and Kindlon matched Staunton's point from a free. It was now Mayo's turn to answer big questions in defence. Thee winners were fortunate enough when Monaghan substitute Ciara McGuinness could not keep her shot down when sent clear for a goal. The resultant point restored Monaghan's lead, 1-8 to 0-10.
Another adroitly kicked free by Staunton put the sides level once more. A hectic scramble resulted for the winner with the sound of the hooter pending. Chances were missed at both ends, the tension soared, legs were weary before young McNicholas came up with vital match winner.
MAYO: D Horan; N O'Shea, H Lohan, M Garvey; C O'Hara, Y Byrne, E Biggins; C Egan, E Reilly; J Moran, E Mullan, C Heffernan (0-1); C McDermott, M Heffernan (0-2), C Staunton (0-8, five frees). Subs: T McNicholas (0-1) for Mullin (38 mins), S McGing for O'Hara (33 mins), M McGing for Moran (47 mins), R Barrett for Y Byrne (54 mins).
MONAGHAN: M Gray; C O'Reilly; M Croarkin; U McNally; L Connolly; J Greenan, M Lavelle; C Mulligan, C Brady; E Byrne (1-0), N Kindlon (0-4), A Tierney (0-2); O Callan, B McAnespie (0-1), D Dempsey. Subs: A O'Reilly Harvey for Connolly (15 mins), T McNally for Dempsey (49 mins), C McGuinness (0-1) for Callan (49 mins), S Murray for McAnespie (55 mins).
Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).
