Mayo romped to an emphatic win over Kerry in Castlebar as manager Kevin McStay savoured his first League victory.
The result moves Mayo to four points and top of the Division One table overnight as they produced by far their best showing so far after draws with Galway and Armagh.
At one stage in the second half, Mayo’s lead peaked at 13 points and they looked set to eclipse their record victory over Kerry, a 10-point win in the 1948 All-Ireland semi-final, though the reigning League and All-Ireland champions managed to find enough of a scoring groove in the last quarter to avoid outright humiliation.
Limiting the defeat to single figures will do little to disguise the fact that Kerry were well beaten in front of 15,726 at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park and that, despite a comfortable win over Monaghan and competitive performance in Donegal, there is still a considerable gap between some of their fringe and frontline players.
This fixture has tended to favour the visiting side over the past number of years, with Mayo picking up victories in Killarney or Tralee while Kerry had won on their last three trips to Castlebar.
But that trend was smashed as Mayo cruised to a first home win over Kerry since 2014, with the result effectively wrapped up after James Carr slotted the second goal of the match in the 23rd minute to put his side eight points clear.
Mayo played at a pace that Kerry couldn’t match. Aidan O’Shea didn’t manage a score in a dominant first half for Mayo but he was at the heart of their best moments up front, be it as a focal point at the edge of the square or dropping deep to good effect.
With O’Shea the fulcrum of the attack, Jordan Flynn, Carr and Ryan O’Donoghue applied the finishing from his lay-offs as Mayo opened a gap early on despite missing a few chances before finding their stride.
Kerry fielded just one of the starting attack that delivered last year’s All-Ireland, Paudie Clifford, though the Fossa man was largely shut out of the game by a variety of markers though primarily Enda Hession as Conor Loftus sat in front of the full-back line.
After O’Donoghue (free) and Carr, with a mark from distance, put Mayo in front, pressure on the Kerry kickout yielded the first goal for the home side. Pa Warren wasn’t strong enough as he went to collect Shane Murphy’s restart with Hession coming strong behind him, and the loose ball was fed to O’Donoghue, who rounded Tadhg Morley before scooping the ball past Murphy in the ninth minute.
Carr hit the second 14 minutes later, with the Ardagh man once again showing his propensity to seek a green flag where others would be content with white.
It came following a stray Morley pass, straight to Matthew Ruane, who fed Carr to apply a crisp right-footed finish.
By half-time it was 2-8 to 0-3, with Kerry having kicked eight wides and dropped another short in comparison to five wides for Mayo.
Kerry boss Jack O’Connor sent in reinforcements at half-time in the shape of three substitutions as David Clifford, Sean O’Shea and Dylan Casey were sent in, with Casey assigned marking duties on Aidan O’Shea.
Mayo threatened to maintain their first half pace when slotting three of the opening four scores of the second half, with O’Shea brilliantly setting up Flynn for a point, but their intensity inevitably dropped.
David Clifford kicked a typically stupendous point with his first touch and would finish with 0-3 for his half’s work as the Kerry attack gradually became more efficient but there was never any question of a comeback.
Mayo went 18 minutes without a score before ‘keeper Colm Reape brilliantly converted a 45 but Kerry only managed three points in the intervening period.
They did manage to avert a record defeat with the help of Barry O’Sullivan’s late goal, one for the traditionalists as he fielded a Paul Murphy delivery at the edge of the square and slotted left-footed past Reape in the 69th minute, though it was cold comfort.
MAYO: C Reape (0-2 ‘45’); D McBrien, R Brickenden, D McHugh (0-1); C Loftus, E Hession, S Coen; M Ruane, D O’Connor (0-1); F McDonagh, J Carney (0-1), J Flynn (0-4); R O’Donoghue (1-3, 0-1m, 0-2f), A O’Shea, J Carr (1-2, 0-1m).
Subs: B Tuohy for O’Connor (35+1), J Coyne for Brickenden (52), C O’Connor for McDonagh (52), C McStay for Carr (63), P Durcan for Coen (65).
KERRY: S Murphy; G O’Sullivan, J Foley, T O’Sullivan; P Warren, T Morley, P Murphy (0-1); J Barry, B O’Sullivan (1-0); D Moynihan (0-1), P Clifford, M Burns; T Brosnan (0-1), D Roche (0-2, 0-1f), D O’Sullivan.
Subs: D Casey for Warren (HT), S O’Shea (0-2, 0-1f) for Burns (HT), D Clifford (0-3) for D O’Sullivan (HT), S Okunbor for Roche (56), K Spillane for P Clifford (63).
REFEREE: S Hurson (Tyrone).
READ NEXT:
- Jarlath Burns elected new President of the GAA
- Christian Atsu dies aged 31 after Turkey earthquake
- Johnny Sexton hailed as class act following Late Late Show appearance
- Tiger Woods apologises for 'crass' tampon joke
- Ireland legend Jack McGrath retires through injury
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
