Nothing Sweet 16 about defeat to the Kingdom
Kobe McDonald of Mayo taking on Kerry' Joe O'Connor in Tralee. Picture: INPHO/James Lawlor
Kerry took a major step towards booking their place in this month’s Division 1 final with a ruthless 16 points dispatching of Mayo on Saturday.
The visitors had arrived to Tralee as the highest scorers in Division 1 – they’d even add six more two pointers here to the 18 already scored in their campaign – yet Mayo could hardly have been any further off the pace. Kerry, meanwhile, were at their awesome best and full value for their 16 points victory.
A pair of goals to go with his three points by Dingle’s Dylan Geaney, who Kerry had the luxury of replacing 15 minutes from the end, and eleven points by Seanie O’Shea, including a quite unique two pointer off the ground from play, made David Clifford’s eight points seem a quite modest contribution in comparison. And yet the Fossa man was still able to walk away with the man-of-the-match accolade on an evening where Kerry kicked just one wide. Mayo kicked 14.
With no more than two points separating the sides in any of their previous four meetings at Austin Stack Park, a similarly close game had been anticipated, particularly with the latter also within reach of the league final. Mayo even chose the occasion to hand the GAA’s most famous 18-year-old, Kobe McDonald, his first senior start. But the writing was on the wall at half-time at which stage the hosts held a three points advantage despite playing into the breeze.
The game had actually begun promisingly for Mayo. By the 18th minute they had already fired over a trio of two pointers from play through Jordan Flynn, Jack Carney and Ryan O’Donohue. They would also have been more than five points ahead had Darragh Beirne not dragged a good goal chance wide. It wasn’t their only time to threaten Kerry’s goal either; McDonald had two bites of the cherry in the 29th minute but was foiled by Shane Murphy both times, the Dr Crokes stopper reminding McDonald that things generally come harder in Tralee than when he scored 1-4 during an explosive cameo on his debut in Clones.
McDonald’s missed moment came during a run of eight consecutive Kerry points and by half-time Jack O’Connor’s side had scored 13 times – Geaney and Clifford with 0-3 apiece – compared to seven from wind-assisted Mayo, the scoreboard reading 0-13 to 0-10.
The All-Ireland champions were only getting started however.
Dylan Geaney had a shot deflected past Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly for the game’s opening goal five minutes after the restart. It separated two pointers by David Clifford and Seanie O’Shea, the first of four by the captain in the second-half, and by the 43rd minute Kerry were 10 points in front.
Andy Moran had made six changes to the Mayo team that had beaten Armagh last time out but it would take his side until the 63rd minute to score from play in the second-half, by which time a second goal by Geaney and a barrage of two pointers by O’Shea and Clifford had seen Kerry extend their advantage to 19 points before Fergal Boland and Ryan O’Donoghue pared back a score apiece from outside the arc.
Scorers – Kerry: Sean O’Shea 0-4-3 (2tpf), Dylan Geaney 2-0-3, David Clifford 0-2-4, Keith Evans 0-0-2, Graham O’Sullivan, Tom O’Sullivan, Sean O’Brien, Joe O’Connor and Mike Breen 0-0-1 each.
Mayo: Ryan O’Donoghue 0-2-4 (4f), Fergal Boland 0-1-1, Jordan Flynn, Jack Carney and Rob Hennelly (tpf) 0-1-0 each, Kobe McDonald and Sam Callinan 0-0-1 each.
Kerry: Shane Murphy; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Dylan Casey; Tom O’Sullivan, Tadhg Morley, Armin Heinrich; Cillian Trant, Sean O’Brien; Joe O’Connor, Sean O’Shea, Graham O’Sullivan; Dylan Geaney, David Clifford, Keith Evans. Subs: Micheál Burns (for G O’Sullivan 46), Mike Breen (for T O’Sullivan 51), Thomas Kennedy (for Geaney 55), Liam Smith (for O’Brien 58), Tom Leo O’Sullivan (for P Murphy 59), Eddie Healy (for Casey 64).
Mayo: Rob Hennelly; Jack Coyne, Rory Brickenden, Donnacha McHugh; Sam Callinan, Diarmuid O’Connor, Conal Dawson; Bob Tuohy, David McBrien; Jack Carney, Ryan O’Donoghue, Jordan Flynn; Darragh Beirne, Kobe McDonald, Fergal Boland. Subs: Sean Morahan (for Dawson 27), Diarmuid Duffy (for McHugh ht), Stephen Coen (for O’Connor 41), Aidan O’Shea (for Beirne 41), Cillian O’Connor (for Tuohy 55).
REF: Martin McNally (Monaghan)
