Dempsey stays cool as Mayo storm to final

HARD to believe this was the same Mayo who almost kicked away the All-Ireland MFC semi-final a week ago.

At the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick on Saturday, they produced a scintillating display to crush Kerry in the replay and set up a final clash with Tyrone on September 21.

The improvement in Mayo in six days, particularly in their shooting, was incredible. In the drawn game they kicked 13 wides to eight for their opponents. On Saturday, the Connacht champions had just three wides while Kerry had nine.

At the final whistle, it was easy to understand the jubilation of their supporters who outnumbered their opponents by at least three to one, in an attendance of 2,500. One Mayo man who didn’t get carried away was coach Ray Dempsey. “While it’s always nice to win, and emphatically as we did, I won’t be getting carried away. The players won’t either.

“There is only something very small between a pat on the back and a kick up the behind, and we will have to be extremely careful not to get too carried away with this result.

“There will be times after the final for all the back slapping and congratulating players for all the hard work they have put in. Now iscertainly not that time, and I would ask the people of Mayo to recognise that. There is a final to be played. There is no point in beating Kerry if you cannot go and complete the job.

“We are now in the final but I will reiterate what I have said in the past, there have been very good teams who went to Croke Park and came away empty handed. I’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen to this team.”

Mayo had many heroes, but Kerry will have nightmares about one in particular, centre forward Aidan O’Shea. Born in Killorglin, his parents moved up the west coast when Aidan was 10, and Kerry’s loss was Mayo’s gain.

O’Shea was outstanding and forced the Kerry selectors to replace Jamie O’Sullivan after just 17 minutes. Full back Kevin Keane, as he did in the drawn match, kept a very tight rein on Barry John Walsh, and while the Kerry full forward finished as his side’s top scorer with 1-2, he never made the kind of impact he is capable of.

James Cafferty and Ger McDonagh dominated midfield, which ensured a plentiful supply of ball into the Mayo forwards and Walsh made full use of that.

His third minute goal sparked off his side’s scoring burst, and as Kerry struggled to stem the tide, the Connacht champions struck for a second major when Alex Corduff reacted quickest after Raymond Geraghty’s shot came back off the upright, and he coolly slipped the ball home to help Mayo to a commanding 2-8 to 0-2 half-time lead.

Kerry rung the changes for the second half making two substitutions and were given a lifeline when Barry John Walsh first timed a ball to the roof of the net. However it was only a token score and a superbly drilled Mayo side began picking off points at will before sub Dean Gavin put the icing on the cake with Mayo’s third goal.

Kerry coach John Kennedy had no complaints. “Mayo got a dream start, scored their first goal early on and drove on from there. We were playing catch up all through. For the second time in a week we didn’t perform. This is not a bad Kerry team. A number of them will wear the senior jersey.”

Scorers for Mayo: A. Walsh 1-6 (0-5 frees); A. Corduff, D. Gavin 1-0 each; R. Geraghty 0-3; C. Freeman 0-2; S. Nally, A. O’Shea 0-1 each.

Scorers for Kerry: BJ Walsh 1-2 (0-2 frees); C. O’Shea 0-2 (0-1 free); J. O’Sullivan, F. Fitzgerald, D. Casey, C. Tobin, BJ Keane 0-1 each.

MAYO: R. Henneally; D. Dolan, K. Keane, J. Broderick; S. McHale, E. Reilly, S. Nally; J. Cafferty, G. McDonagh; C. Freeman, A. O’Shea, R. Geraghty; J. Carney, A. Walsh, A. Corduff.

Subs: D. Gavin for Carney (45); D. O’Hara for Corduff (57); B. Fahey for McDonagh (60).

KERRY: B. Kelly; P. Reidy, B. Shanahan, F. Fitzgerald; J. Lyne, J. O’Sullivan, M. Hickey; C. Moriarty, W. Guthrie; MT O’Sullivan, D. Casey, C. O’Shea; J. O’Donoghue, BJ Walsh, C. Tobin.

Subs: P. Crowley for J. O’Sullivan (17); J. Sherwood for MT O’Sullivan 26); J. O’Mahony for M. Hickey (h/t); BJ Keane for O’Donoghue (h/t); P. Geaney for Sherwood (53).

Referee: E. Kinsella (Laois).