Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor football championship semi-final at Croke Park, Dublin: Galway 0-14 Kerry 0-13
Galway manager Donal O Fatharta insisted he took no joy from bringing Kerry's remarkable winning streak at the minor grade to an end.
Darragh Kennedy's 61st minute point for Galway ultimately separated the sides and propelled the beaten Connacht finalists through to the Electric Ireland All-Ireland final.
It was revenge of sorts for Galway who were beaten by Kerry in last year's decider, as well as in the 2016 decider.
They'll face another Munster outfit on September 1 when they take on Cork, beaten twice by Kerry in this year's provincial championship.
Kerry were challenging for six All-Irelands in a row and hadn't been beaten since Tyrone got the better of them in the 2013 quarter-finals, a 34-game winning streak.
Yet they couldn't repel O Fatharta's Galway who came from two points down early in the second-half to win by the narrowest of margins.
Asked if ending Kerry's six-in-a-row bid provided a motivation, O Fatharta said: "No, there's none of that stuff there. Personally, I wouldn't be like that anyway. We would just use Kerry as a yard stick, the way they play. So no, five-in-a-row or six-in-a-row, that was for the media, we didn't get into that."
O Fatharta did acknowledge an immense pride that his young Tribesmen are through to the final - weeks after losing the Connacht decider to Mayo.
"All year the guys have shown a lot of resilience in games," he said. "They've lost games by a point, like the Connacht final. We were a little bit lucky as well because Kerry missed chances towards the end but they showed that bit of resilience to get through."
Kerry will have nightmares about the defeat because they kicked 13 wides, dropped several more attempts short and drew a series of saves from the Galway 'keeper.
They still managed to turn around a 0-7 to 0-5 half-time deficit to lead by two with a brilliant start to the second-half.
They kicked four points in just over two minutes through Colin Crowley, Darragh Lynch, Dylan Geaney and Jack O'Connor.
But they couldn't kick on from there as Galway finished the stronger with full-forward Tomo Culhane excellent and booting six points overall.
Kerry boss James Costello said it was a good campaign generally for the Munster champions and rubbished six-in-a-row talk.
"Answering that question you get sick of it at times because it's a different group each year, especially with U-17s," said Costello. "I think we've only one lad on the panel who is underage again next year.
"So it's a one-year thing and you have a different group every year. Is it a big deal? I suppose it was a big deal to some of the people down in Kerry but from our point of view everything was about our guys getting their one All-Ireland.
"We weren't thinking of six-in-a-row or anything like that. Look, Galway pipped us in the end and they're a very good team."
Costello described it as one of those frustrating days when Kerry had their chances but didn't take them.
"It just wasn't sticking for us," he said. "Was it nerves? I don't know. But we just couldn't get the points when we needed them."
Galway: D Halleran; R King, J McGrath, L Tevan; C Hernon (0-1), E Fiorentini, K O'Neill; J McLaughlin, D O'Flaherty; E Nolan, W Seoige (0-2), D Brady (0-2); N Grainger (0-1), T Culhane (0-6, 4f), D Cox (0-1).
Subs: C Gallagher for O'Flaherty 39, N Cunningham for Grainger 48, J Webb for O'Neill 51, D Kennedy (0-1) for Brady 57.
Kerry: D Burns; K O'Sullivan, A Dineen, L Chester; E O'Sullivan, A Curran, S O'Brien (0-1); C O Beaglaoich, R Collins; G Hassett, C Crowley (0-1), D Lynch (0-3); E O'Shea (0-3), D Geaney (0-3), J O'Connor (0-2).
Subs: D O'Callaghan for Crowley 39, J Linehan for Lynch 45, K Goulding for O'Shea 55, T O hAinifein for Collins 58, R O'Grady for Geaney 63.
Ref: M McNally (Monaghan).
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Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor football championship semi-final report from Croke Park, Dublin
Cork 4-12 Mayo 1-13
These are days to savour for Cork's football supporters.
A county cloaked in gloom just months ago after the senior team's relegation to Division 3 of the Allianz league - we were widely informed at the time that Cork is now officially a hurling county - is on the verge of an underage All-Ireland double.
The U-20s completed their All-Ireland win last Saturday week in Portlaoise and seven days later the minors powered through to a first final at that grade since 2010.
They blitzed Mayo with three goals in the last quarter of their semi-final at Croke Park and will return to the venue on September 1 seeking a first minor title since 2000.
In truth, the minor team contributed to that dark mood among Leeside football fans earlier in the summer when they began their championship campaign with a 16-point defeat to Kerry.
"That was a sore place to be in Pairc Ui Rinn that night alright," reflected Cork manager Bobbie O'Dwyer. "You were walking off the field after a bit of a beating."
From there to here, it's been some journey. And yet Saturday's win couldn't have been any more text-book, Cork gaining an early foothold, maintaining it and then striking with lethal intent to finish the game.
They scored a goal after seven minutes - by Man of the Match Patrick Campbell who later left the field with back trouble - led by 1-7 to 0-7 at half-time and sealed the win with three goals in the final quarter.
O'Dwyer acknowledged the powerful effect that the U-20 All-Ireland win had on his young Cork players.
"Their win gave us, and us being the county, an air of confidence," he said. "When you have confidence and you get a bit of momentum, it carries everybody along.
"We were playing our quarter-final before the U-20s were playing their semi-final in Tullamore and word came through that the U-20s had beaten Tyrone. I had just finished talking to the players and when the word came through you could actually see them getting taller inside, just the bit of confidence."
Captain Conor Corbett and Campbell were clearly inspired on Saturday as they blasted 3-5 between them.
Campbell hit Cork's first two scores, a seventh minute point and a goal shortly after, and they led from then on.
But Nemo Rangers attacker Campbell left the field in the 50th minute with a concerning back injury which could threaten his final place.
"It was a back spasm," said O'Dwyer. "I'm hoping it's not too serious. Obviously you're always concerned about the back because that influences so many other muscles in the body. Look, we'll go back and recuperate and see where we're at."
Cork led by two when defender Daniel Linehan soloed through and slammed in a 46th minute goal.
The strike broke Mayo's challenge and skipper Corbett added 50th and 65th minute majors to seal it.
Mayo, who'd twice hit five goals in the minor championship beforehand, against Dublin and Sligo, and four against Roscommon, clawed back a consolation goal at the death through sub Niall Feeney.
Cork: C O'Leary; J O'Shea, D Peet, N Lordan; K Scannell, D Linehan (1-0), D Cashman; J Lawton, E Nash; H Murphy (0-2), P Campbell (1-2), A Walsh Murphy; M O'Neill (0-2, 1f), C Corbett (2-3), J Cahalane (0-1).
Subs: S Andrews for O'Shea (41), R O'Donovan (0-2) for O'Neill (41), K O'Driscoll for Campbell (50), L Murphy for Walsh Murphy (55), A Aherne for H Murphy (58), A O'Hare for Cahalane (61).
Mayo: L Jennings; O Tunney, O McHale (0-1), A Morrison; S Dempsey (0-1, 1f), R Keane, E Gilraine; E Henry (0-3, 3f), M Tighe; A Cosgrove, P Heneghan (0-4), D Thornton; C Mylett (0-1, 1f), F Irwin (0-2), P Walsh.
Subs: R Morrin for Mylett (36), J Grady (0-1, 1f) for Dempsey (45), R Walsh for Cosgrove (51), R Hughes for Tunny (57), C Boland for Gilraine (61), N Feeney (1-0) for Walsh (61).
Ref: N Cullen (Fermanagh).
ENDS
