Derry to face Meath

DERRY AND Meath progressed to the All Ireland Under 21 football final after semi final wins over Mayo and Kerry, respectively…

DERRY AND Meath progressed to the All Ireland Under 21 football final after semi final wins over Mayo and Kerry, respectively, on Saturday night.

Derry beat Mayo by 0-12 to 1-5. Their win was kick started by a Mayo goal from Sean Carey which put his side 1-5 to 0-5 ahead with 14 minutes to play. It was only then that Derry, in this foul ridden semi final at Ballyshannon, started to play their best football.

With 64 frees in total, this was never going to be an open game, but the introduction by Derry of Gary Doyle and a positional switch which moved captain Johnny McBride to centre forward proved critical. Derry's late pressure began to yield scores, seven in succession - three from the talented feet of Joseph Cassidy - without a Mayo reply in the last 14 minutes.

Meath beat Kerry, All Ireland champions for the last two years, by 0-14 to 0-13 in Nenagh. Meath racked up the bulk of their scores in the first half to establish an 0-10 to 0-4 half time lead, and defended stoutly in the face of a game Kerry comeback.