TG4 Ladies All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Semi-final – Cork v Mayo

CORK remain on course for a fifth successive TG4 All-Ireland Ladies senior football championship crown after booking their place in the September 27 final on Saturday.

The all-conquering Leesiders ran out 3-10 to 1-9 semi-final winners against Mayo at McDonagh Park in Nenagh and will meet Dublin or Monaghan in the showpiece Croke Park decider.

Wing-forward Amy O’Shea was the two-goal heroine for Cork, with goals in each half arriving at opportune moments.

O’Shea fired home her opening goal five minutes before half-time as the Rebelettes opened up a 1-5 to 0-2 half-time lead and the Inch Rovers star grabbed another midway through the second half.

That second goal was answered in kind within a minute by Mayo’s leading scorer Cora Staunton but even though the beaten Connacht finalists gave Cork a stern examination in an entertaining game, the champions had enough in reserve.

Staunton shot 1-7 for Mayo, including two superb long-range points from play in the second half, but it still wasn’t enough as the Westerners bowed out of the championship at the semi-final stage for the second successive year.

Wing back and player of the match Briege Corkery made the game safe for Cork with less than two minutes remaining as yet another surge from defence resulted in a superb goal, driven high to the net past Mayo netminder Yvonne Byrne.

Corkery said: “We were favourites on the day but we knew that Mayo would give us a hell of a game.

“They’re an outstanding side and that was our first test of the year really.

“We know we have a bit of work to do now, we were a bit slow on the ball and hopefully we’ll pick that up for the All-Ireland.”