Kerry booked their place in the All Ireland Final as Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh hit 1-10 to see the Kingdom have another chance to end their 30 year wait for All Ireland Silverware.

Kerry won the first half, Mayo better in the second, but August 13th will be Kerry’s day, they battled well in the first half to carve out a 1-10 to 0-04 lead, but the second was nerve wracking.

Mayo missed chances and will rue them, Kerry have a lot to work on, Cork or Dublin next on the agenda, they will have to worry about Hannah O’Donoghue going off injured, but will celebrate this evening.

It was a largely possession based game in the early exchanges, Mayo passing around the Kerry half nicely, but the final pass just eluded them, the Kingdom transitioning well and after some possession Hannah O’Donoghue fired the opening point over six minutes in.

Sinead Cafferky levelled the tie almost immediately, the opening 12 minutes compact and close as the score was split two points a piece, with Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh and Shauna Howley grabbing scores.

When O’Donoghue restored the Kingdom’s lead 13 minutes in, they took control, Mayo with two sloppy kickouts in a row that Kerry turned over, O’Donoghue and Emma Costello pointed for a 0-5 to 0-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Ní Mhuircheartaigh stroked over two incredible scores to make it a five point game, before Niamh Ní Chonchúir added a score before Ní Mhuircheartaigh found the back of the Mayo net, Niamh Carmody playing the key pass to find Danielle O’Leary, she passed it across the goal for Ní Mhuircheartaigh to tap home, 1-8 to 0-2, Kerry in the blink of an eye took control.

The Kerry forward added to her tally soon after, if not for a solid stop by Ciara Butler to save a goal bound effort from Tara Needham, it could have been a different story on the scoreboard.

From the resulting 45, Mayo went short and Cafferky got them a much needed score, they follow up by Ciara Needham dropped short, Laura Brenna denied Kerry a second goal fro, a counter attack, Carmody finding O’Donoghue but the Mayo net minder stood her ground.

Ní Mhuircheartaigh and Ciara Needham swapped scores towards the end of the half, the Kingdom largely comfortable, ahead 1-10 to 0-04 at the interval.

Mayo started on top in the second half as Rachel Kearns made use of Kerry being unable to clear their lines to score the first point of the half, Ní Chonchúir was in on goal but was unable to create the chance, at the other end Ailsing O’Connell got in the way to stop Mayo creating a goal of their own.

Ní Mhuircheartaigh steadied Kerry with a tap over free minutes later, Mayo laced the killer touch to close the gap and almost had O’Leary in for a second goal, Carmody’s pass had a little too much weight on it to land to her full-forward.

Sinead Walsh kept Mayo on the board, but they made too many mistakes to start the second half, taking poor shooting choices and kicking the ball to no one, Lisa Cafferky making use of a create chance to put seven between them, 1-12 to 0-07.

Deirdre Doherty was one of three late changes, she dropped to the bench and having been summoned to come on, her first touch was rolling the ball past Butler into the Kerry net, Aoife Geraghty making the powerful run into the Kerry rearguard, unable to deal with her threat she offloaded to Doherty to make it a five point game.

The Kingdom playing into the breeze in the second half looked second best, they struggled to create scores, Ní Mhuircheartaigh missed a chance at a free but made up for it later to keep the Kingdom ahead.

Inside the final ten minutes, Howley tapped over two frees to keep Mayo within arms length, the Kerry captain Ní Mhuircheartaigh was however in fine form, despite Geraghty pointing for Mayo, her eight and ninth points kept Kerry ahead.

O’Leary and Needham swapped late points as Mayo trailed by five, Deidre Doherty went for  goal twice from free’s late on, the first went wide, the second was blocked on the line, Kerry awarded a kick out, the hooter sounding, Kerry into the All Ireland Final.