Mayo catch fire to shock Kerry in round-robin opener…

Mayo catch fire to shock Kerry in round-robin opener in Killarney

Kerry 0-17 Mayo 1-19

Magnificently kick-starting Group 1 of the All-Ireland SFC (round-robin) phase, an outstanding Mayo were full value for their five-point victory over a strangely lacklustre Kerry outfit at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney.

Substitute Eoghan McLaughlin’s crucial 61st minute goal, after a scintillating attacking move involving Tommy Conroy, Jack Carney and Ryan O’Donoghue, was the score that finally killed off the hosts, who could have no complaints about the end result.

Indeed, if it wasn’t for the individual heroics of goalkeeper Shane Ryan (who made four point-blank saves) and David Clifford (his side’s top scorer with 0-8), the defending All-Ireland champions would have been on the receiving end of a much heavier defeat.

The National League kingpins deserve huge credit for rebounding so positively from the provincial upset against Roscommon. They hit the ground running from the first whistle, and were never seriously threatened, ending Kerry’s 28-year unbeaten championship record at the venue.

A lot of the damage was done in the first half, at the end of which Mayo were certainly not flattered to hold a five-point advantage (0-12 to 0-7). Kerry, stuck to the ground all over the pitch, were indebted to three Ryan stops, foiling Diarmuid O’Connor and James Carr (twice).

Extremely slow to get out of the blocks, Kerry found themselves four points in arrears (0-7 to 0-3) by the 25th minute, with O’Donoghue, Carr and Aidan O’Shea causing serious problems but, doing well off turnovers, the deficit was soon down to the minimum (0-8 to 0-7).

However, just as it appeared as if Jack O’Connor’s charges would kick into gear, it was Mayo who finished the first half much the stronger force, O’Donoghue (2), Carr and Carney adding four unanswered points before the break.

With Paul Murphy and Adrian Spillane introduced on the resumption, Kerry did improve to a degree, but without making any real inroads on the Mayo cushion. Too dependent on the Footballer-of-the-Year, and Paul Geaney, they were always held at arms’ length.

Clifford was superb, however, kicking four points from play in the second half, and being unlucky to find the net on three different occasions in a five-minute spell – Colm Reape parrying his first attempt, corner-back Sam Callinan diverting the second, and the third blazed wide.

In truth though, while Kerry enjoyed only sporadic bursts of inspiration, it was the visitors who remained in control of the contest. Leading by four points (0-15 to 0-11) at the three-quarter stage, Kevin McStay used his bench to impressive effect in the last quarter.

With the Kerry netminder called into action for a fourth time, denying Matthew Ruane from point-blank range, Ryan was finally beaten by McLaughlin entering the last ten minutes. That green flag killed off the Kingdom resistance, Mayo cruising over the finishing line with more than a bit to spare.

TEAMS AND SCORERS:

MAYO: C Reape; J Coyne, D McBrien, S Callinan; P O’Hora 0-1, C Loftus, D McHugh 0-1; M Ruane 0-2, D O’Connor; J Doherty 0-1, J Carney 0-1, J Flynn 0-1; A O’Shea 0-3 (0-2fs, 0-1mk), J Carr 0-3, R O’Donoghue 0-5 (0-2fs).

Subs: P Durcan 0-1 for Doherty (48), E Hession for Callinan (48), T Conroy for Carr (53), E McLaughlin 1-0 for O’Hora (56), S Coen for Coyne (60).

KERRY: S Ryan; D Casey, J Foley, T O’Sullivan 0-2; G O’Sullivan, T Morley, G White; D O’Connor, J Barry; D Moynihan 0-1, S O’Shea 0-3 (0-2fs, 0-1 ’45), P Clifford; T Brosnan, D Clifford 0-8 (0-3fs), P Geaney 0-3.

Subs: P Murphy for Casey (ht), A Spillane for Brosnan (ht), R Murphy for Moynihan (46), B O Beaglaoich for Morley (59), S O’Brien for Barry (64).

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