Kingdom crush hopes of Mayo hurlers

Mayo’s quest for a first win in Division 2 of the National Hurling League met a brutal response in Tralee on Sunday afternoon as they suffered a 27 points defeat at the hands of Kerry for whom this was a fourth game unbeaten in five games.

It’s going to be a swift return to Division 3 for the Green and Red who have found the going exceptionally tough against teams who are operating above them in championship terms.

The first-half of this clash at Austin Stack Park was a total mismatch with three goals between the 13th and 16th minutes helping Kerry into a fifteen points lead before the opening quarter had even elapsed. Full-forward Oisin Maunsell scored the first and set up the second for Michael Slattery who set up the third for Gavin Dooley, an early substitute for an injured Jordan Conway.

Centre-forward Colin Walsh slammed home a fourth Kerry goal and by half-time the hosts were 24 points ahead, 4-17 to 0-5.

With that in mind, the second-half might be seen as something of a small triumph for Mayo considering the margin between the teams had only increased by three points come full-time.

Things had got worse for the Connacht outfit before they got better however, with Gavin Conway drilling home his second goal – and Kerry’s fifth – just three minutes into the second-half.

Mayo rallied though and actually scored six of the game’s next seven points between the 41st and 55th minutes, with Cormac Phillips, Shane Boland and Daniel Huane all on target from play. Phillips and Boland would add seven points from placed balls between them throughout the course of the contest but Kerry had an excellent free-taker of their own in midfielder Ronan Walsh.

A sixth Kerry goal – and second for full-forward Oisin Maunsell, who also struck six points – rounded off a miserable afternoon for Mayo who have a two week break until coming up against Westmeath who Kerry could only draw with.

* See Tuesday’s Western People for full coverage.