Kerry, boosted by the attacking brilliance of David Clifford, Seán O'Shea and Dylan Geaney, scorers of 2-22 between them, put one foot in the Allianz Football League Division 1 final thanks a comprehensive and comfortable 16-point win over Mayo, 2-29 to 0-19, in front of a packed Austin Stack Park on Saturday evening.
The All-Ireland champions, despite playing against the strong breeze in the opening half, took a three-point lead into the break, 0-13 to 0-10, after a dominating second quarter saw the Kingdom outscore Mayo by nine points to one.
The game, played in front of 9,498, was turned on its head in that first half during which Jack O'Connor’s men kicked eight without response as Mayo went 16 minutes without a score of their own.
The game was, however, won in the third quarter as Kerry scored 1-6 without reply before opening up a 10-point lead heading into the final 17 minutes with Dylan Geaney scoring his first of two goals four minutes after the restart.
After Geaney raised the green flag for a second time at the start of the final quarter, Kerry extended their lead to 16 by the final whistle - in a game that finished with Mayo clocking up 14 wides, compared to just one from Jack O’Connor’s impressive charges.
Tom O’Sullivan, named club footballer of the year on Friday evening, started at right half back, while Cillian O’Connor was named on the bench for Mayo, signalling the two-time All Stars return to the setup after a year out of action.
Mayo’s 18-year-old sensation Kobe McDonald, off to AFL club St Kilda later this year, was named a late starter – replacing Aidan O’Shea in the originally named team.
As expected, the game got off to a flying start with both sides level twice inside the opening five minutes before Mayo started to take an early foothold on proceedings.
Mayo, fully on top of and winning the majority of Kerry’s kickout during the early stages, took full advantage and scored four points without reply – a Jack Carney two-pointer, a Kobe McDonald point from play, and a Ryan O’Donoghue free – to open up a four-point lead by the 11th minute.
Minutes later, Footballer of the Year, David Clifford, who’d a quiet opening 15 minutes with Rory Brickenden ensuring the Fossa man’s name was kept off the scoresheet early on, scored his first point of the evening to give Kerry a much-needed lift.
Ryan O’Donoghue responded with Mayo’s second two-pointer, but Kerry were soon on top, completely dominating proceedings for the remainder for the opening half – scoring nine of the next 10 points to take a three-point lead into the break.
In truth, Kerry never looked back after they drew level for a third time 10 minutes before half time, outscoring Mayo by 2-20 to 0-10 for the remainder of the game.
It could have been a different story however, had Kobe McDonald taken one of the two quick-fire goals he had six minutes before half-time, but Shane Murphy did superbly well to twice deny the youngster.
Mayo opened the second half with a two-point free from Rob Hennelly, but David Clifford quickly cancelled out the Mayo goalkeeper’s effort when he also raised the orange with a two-pointer from play of his own.
From here, Kerry quickly controlled proceedings once more, with Dylan Geaney’s fortunate opening goal kicking off a dominant 15-minute period which saw the Kingdom score 1-6 compared to just two points from Mayo.
Geaney linked up well with the impressive Seán O’Shea for the game’s opening goal, with the Dingle stars deflected effort off Brickenden lopping over the head of Rob Hennelly, capping off a brilliant team move.
Dylan Geaney rifles home his second goal and Kerry are heading for victory against Mayo in Tralee
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The Dingle corner forward put the result beyond any doubt 17 minutes from time, rifling home from close range after being set up by man of the match David Clifford.
The score of the game was, however, Seán O’Shea’s soccer-style two-pointer off the ground minutes from time – a score that will no doubt be a contender for one of the scores of this year’s league campaign.
With real momentum behind them at this stage, Kerry had put the result beyond doubt by the time Mayo scored their first point from play in the second half in the 62nd minute when Fergal Boland raised the game's 12th orange flag.
With both sides still in with a chance of securing a place in the Division 1 final, Kerry travel to Armagh next Sunday, while Mayo host Connaught rivals Roscommon in Castlebar.
Kerry: Shane Murphy; Paul Murphy, Jason Murphy, Dylan Casey; Tom O’Sullivan (0-01), Tadhg Morley, Armin Heinrich; Joe O’Connor (0-01), Seán O’Brien (0-01); Cillian Trant, Seán O’Shea (0-11, 2tp, 2tpf) Graham O’Sullivan (0-01); Dylan Geaney (2-03), David Clifford (0-08, 2tp), Keith Evans (0-02)
Subs: Micheál Burns for O’Sullivan (48 minutes), Mike Breen (0-01) for O’Sullivan (51), Tomás Kennedy for Geaney (56), Liam Smith for O’Brien (58), Tom Leo O’Sullivan for Murphy (60), Eddie Healy for Casey (62)
Mayo: Rob Hennelly (0-02, 1tpf); Jack Coyne (capt.), Rory Brickenden, Donnacha McHugh; Sam Callinan (0-01), Diarmuid O’Connor, Conal Dawson; Bob Tuohy, David McBrien; Jack Carney (0-02, 1tp), Ryan O’Donoghue (0-08, 2tp, 0-04f), Jordan Flynn (0-02, 1tp); Darragh Beirne, Kobe McDonald (0-01), Fergal Boland (0-03, 1tp)
Subs: Seán Morahan for Dawson (27 minutes), Diarmuid Duffy for McHugh (ht), Stephen Coen for O’Connor (41), Aidan O’Shea for Beirne (42), Cillian O’Connor for Tuohy (56)
Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan)
