Kerry v Mayo Classics: 1932 SFC final

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Ahead of Sunday's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Football final, RTÉ Publishing's Barry J Whyte looks back at some memorable encounters between Kerry and Mayo. 

'It was an excellent game, and very well contested, with a most exciting finish. It was a pleasant match to watch, and on the whole I think that the better team won.'

Sean T O'Kelly, Acting President of the Irish Free State Executive Council. 

Long before a grinning Charlie McCreevy deemed Kildare's victory to be better than sex, high profile politicians were enjoying contests in Croke Park - although, it must be said, acquitting themselves somewhat better in the throes of excitement.
 
Even so, O'Kelly was probably overstating the case. You don't have to tell Mayo people - because they're painfully aware of it already - but there are precious few classics between Mayo and Kerry. From the early years of the century to the present day, clashes between the two sides have largely been one-sided affairs in which Mayo have been soundly whipped.
 
If you don't believe it, reflect on the following statistic: in the first three decades of Championship games between Kerry and Mayo, the Connachtmen managed just 21 points. Although it was undoubtedly an era of lower scores, Kerry managed 12-43 at the other end of the pitch. That does not make for 30 years of classic football.
 
Kerry and Mayo did not meet in the Championship until 1903, but between then and 1932 they had eight encounters. And it took Mayo all eight of those encounters before they could finish a game less than six points adrift of The Kingdom. In that eighth game, the 1931 semi-final, they ran their opponents 1-06 to 1-04 and very nearly turned their bitter rivals over.
 
Prior to that game, Mayo had only once been in Croke Park in September, in 1916 when they lost to Wexford, but in 1932, Mayo would get their ninth chance to stand up to Kerry.
 
On a rainy day, a slate-grey sky hung over Croke Park, suggesting that this game would be another less-than-classic encounter. But it opened in great style and Mayo raced off into a commanding lead through Courell, Moclair and Munnelly, with The Kingdom left uncharacteristically flatfooted.
 
The Mayo fans were in something of a frenzy as their side swashbuckled all over the park, and the fans of the green and red were right behind their team as they tore into Kerry in as remarkable a start to anything that had gone before. The Kingdom were struggling to get on the scoreboard; Landers and Russell sent shots wide, while Burke pushed a sizzling effort wide of the upright.
 
But Kerry wouldn't take much longer to get into the game. Although Whitty made it 0-04 without reply for Mayo, Joe O'Sullivan notched a point for Kerry before Miko Doyle levelled the scores with a goal. Tim Landers' score for the lead was then cancelled out by a Mayo leveller through Moclair.
 
Mayo's flurry of enthusiasm and excitement began to abate in the middle of the first-half, and the game became a dour, physical battle on rain-sodden turf that easily gave way underfoot. The ball led the players on a merry chase, often leaving them flat on the ground.
 
Then the play, having fallen into a slump, roared once again back to life, swinging almost wildly from end to end until Mayo took control of the ball and Courell lashed it to the back of the net. Kerry were stunned, and missed some kickable scores before the half-time whistle blew trailing 1-05 to 1-02.
 
The adage holds that half-time can change a game into one of two distinctly different halves. A manager with motivational skills - as Joe Kernan has often displayed - can electrify his players with words or deeds, or words about deeds. And this leads to yet another piece of old wisdom; that the team that starts the second-half best is in the best position to win the game. 
 
The Kerry players clearly heard or saw something inspiring, for when they came out onto the pitch, they looked like fifteen very different men. They soon eliminated the first-half goal through Tim Landers, tearing through a Mayo defence that had been so stout before the break. And it was Landers who put his side into the lead with a point from a free.
 
Kerry had found their rhythm, popping the ball all over the pitch. They were playing like a Kerry team once more, with flair and outrageous skill. It was one thing to mock their opponents, quite another to mock the conditions.
 
Brosnan made it a two-point lead for Kerry, before his team-mate Jacky Ryan tacked on two more. Mayo's fate seemed sealed half-way through the second-half when Miko Doyle stretched the lead to four points.
 
But, like a put-upon child in a school yard who suddenly realises he has a chance to finally stand up to his tormentor, Mayo hauled themselves up to their full height, puffed out their chest, gritted their teeth and threw that last-chance, Hail Mary, one-in-a-million punch.
 
Kerry had been parading around the pitch, probably dreamily considering a new set of Celtic crosses, when Mayo made their move. A touch of profligacy by The Kingdom - missed points indicated a slackening of the collective mind - allowed Mayo to whip downfield and put together a slick move that ended with Munnelly ramming to the net.
 
The Mayo crowd were awake again, and began to push their heroes onward, like all the other children in the playground chanting the name of the child with the temerity to stand up to the bully.
 
The problem with standing up to the bully is that, if you're going to hit him, make it a good one. If you don't knock him to the ground, he's going to be one angry bully.
 
Mayo had, unfortunately, only grazed Kerry's chin.
 
The Kingdom stood, somewhat dazed, but generally amazed that the pipsqueak they had pushed around for years was showing a backbone. But, so close to the line, Kerry were not to be denied; they held the men in green and red at arm's length while they flailed wildly in the hope of landing that lucky haymaker.
 
It would never come, and the last strike of the day came through Kerry, when the resolute Kerry backs broke down a Mayo attack and set Jacky Ryan up to notch the final score.
 
Kerry got to take Sam Maguire on another trip south, but Mayo had shown rare grit and determination, not to mention flair and skill.
 
Paddy O'Beirne, a former Mayo great, said after the game that though the better team had won, 'that Mayo side, with two changes, should pull it off next year'.
 
But he had underestimated the psychological blow to Mayo, who would fail to get out of Connacht for another four years.
 
However, in 1936, when they eventually emerged from the province, they would once again face Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final.
 
Tomorrow: The 1936 All-Ireland senior football semi-final.