Mayo spring another surprise

THEIR history with Kerry is largely framed by championship meltdowns, but when it comes to league jousts, Mayo are fast becoming the experts.

They departed Tralee yesterday afternoon with their fourth spring victory in five years over the Kingdom and the eventual two-point winning margin concealed their true superiority in this NFL Division 1 clash.

Kerry blasted 1-1 in injury-time to trim Mayo’s lead but the narrative of the second half revolved around the Connacht team’s dominance.

The result sends the two teams journeying in diverging directions in Division 1. Mayo have recovered from their blip against Dublin to be strongly in the frame for a ticket when silverware is handed out on April 25, while Kerry face a perilous trip to Omagh next Saturday searching for the points that will ease relegation fears. For manager Jack O’Connor, the inadequacies in his side’s second-half performance caused most concern.

“We were poor and sluggish all over the pitch. We turned over an ocean of ball and lost it a lot in the tackle. Our support play out of defence and our penetration was poor in the middle third. Our two orthodox wing-forwards, Paul Galvin and Donncha Walsh, were absent and they’re great scrapping for ball. You’d miss them.

“But a reality check is no harm. We knew Mayo were going to be good as you don’t go away to Tyrone and Derry to win league games, unless you’re going well. There’s going to be a huge scrap now to stay up. Tyrone next week will be very tough and Monaghan the following week will be tough as well. The league has turned it out exactly the way we thought.”

John O’Mahony radiated contentment after the afternoon’s work. Mayo had generated enough possession in the first half to construct a sizeable interval advantage but they frittered away a shocking amount of chances.

Inside the opening quarter alone they dropped five shots short and skewed three more wide, as they struggled to get to grips with a capricious breeze. Kerry led rather surprisingly at the interval, 0-5 to 0-4 but in the second half Mayo finally calibrated their shooting successfully.

“We felt we should have more scores on the board,” remarked O’Mahony. “There was a tricky wind out there and it was frustrating to then go in behind. But what was pleasing was the work rate all over the pitch remained high. We gave each other a dig out and that’s what we’re trying to get to, which is giving us the momentum in games. We’re happy with our progress and have had three wins away from home which is very pleasing.”

O’Mahony’s pinpointing of workrate as key in Mayo’s second-half performance was salient. Kerry had initially looked as if they were going to blitz their opponents after the break with Kieran Donaghy, unable to start due to tonsillitis, introduced at the interval making a big impact at full-forward.

The Dr Croke’s men profited from his aerial prowess with Colm Cooper and Kieran O’Leary striking early points to leave Kerry 0-7 to 0-5 ahead in the 40th minute. But for the next 22 minutes Kerry were outscored 1-7 to 0-1 and Mayo’s hard graft underpinned that control on the scoreboard.

Seamus O’Shea and Tom Parsons began to boss the midfield exchanges, and the likes of Andy Moran and Kevin McLoughlin feasted on the breaks. Trevor Howley was the epitome of sound play at centre-back and allied to the efforts of Donal Vaughan on the right flank, Kerry found themselves pinned back into their own half.

Up front for Mayo, Alan Dillon orchestrated play brilliantly from centre-forward, Enda Varley’s performance graph continues to travel in an upward curve but it was the introduction of Conor Mortimer that was most critical. The Shrule man entered the fray in the 42nd minute and within 10 minutes chalked up four points from play, including a couple of breathtaking efforts. Mayo rounded off their dominant phase with a 58th minute goal by Parsons who slalomed through the centre and it took a superb block by Brendan Kealy to deny Seamus O’Shea from hitting the net minutes earlier.

There were a few bright spots though for Kerry. Anthony Maher advanced his midfield claims with a couple of clean catches and moved well around the park in the first half. The Duagh player has suffered a ruinous streak of injuries and predictably a lack of match sharpness led to his second-half withdrawal. But he certainly merits further exposure at senior level, and the tenacity of Aidan O’Mahony, Declan O’Sullivan’s continued foraging and Kieran O’Leary chipping in with 1-2 were other positive facets for Jack O’Connor.

Scorers for Kerry: K O’Leary 1-2, C Cooper (0-2f), B Sheehan (0-2f, 0-1 ‘45) 0-4 each,

Scorers for Mayo: E Varley (0-3f), C Mortimer 0-4 each, T Parsons 1-0, A Dillon 0-2 (0-2f), A Moran (0-1 ‘45), T Mortimer 0-1 each.

Substitutes for Kerry: M Quirke for O’Callaghan (30), K Donaghy for Darran O’Sullivan (35), S Scanlon for Maher (52), B Guiney for O’Connell (53), B Looney for Moran (58).

Substitutes for Mayo: C Mortimer for Ronaldson (42), P Harte for A O’Shea (57), B Kelly for Dillon (63), M Sweeney for Varley (66).

Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).