Mayo in body only but professional Kerry finish off perfect spring
3 April 2022; David Clifford of Kerry in action against Pádraig O'Hora of Mayo during the Allianz Football League Division 1 Final match between Kerry and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
The annals will record this as the second joint highest winning margin in the history of Division 1 finals. Alongside Dublin’s mauling of Derry in 2014, this 15-point victory of Kerry’s will stand proudly at least on paper.
That they subjected fellow All-Ireland contenders to such a trouncing will make it that bit sweeter but they won’t be losing the run of themselves. Not when Mayo were down arguably five of their starting championship 15 and looked listless and uninterested for a lot of the second half.
Five weeks away from Cork, Kerry were always going to be able to attack this game easier than Mayo whose championship opener against Galway falls two weeks earlier. It may not have affected the result but it most certainly impacted the magnitude as Mayo virtually downed tools in the final quarter when the die was cast.
It may have only been Mayo in body but Kerry’s professionalism couldn’t be faulted. After a fine league campaign, Diarmuid O’Connor wasn’t influential here but the labour of Dara Moynihan and Adrian Spillane around him compensated. As they have done all spring, Jason Foley and Tadhg Morley formed a convincing central defensive plank. However, kick-outs do remain a concern and the identity of the goalkeeper for May 7 remains a question.
Seven points down, the game was still there for Mayo when O’Connor was sin-binned for a cynical foul on Aidan O’Shea in the 51st minute. Yet the numerical advantage meant little as Kerry outscored them 0-4 to 0-1 in the following 11 minutes, their only score the Ryan O’Donoghue free for the O’Connor infringement. It said a lot about Kerry’s desire and the lack of it in their opponents.
In that period, David Clifford scored a majestic point from each side of the field into the Hill 16 End goal. He was giving Pádraig O’Hora a torrid time and compounded the defender’s experience with a goal finished with typical flare in the 66th minute, a score many in the 31,506 rightly acknowledged.
With five points, Paul Geaney was excellent riding shotgun, producing his best display for Kerry in three years. With his last effort, he extended Kerry’s advantage to 14 points. Cillian O’Connor, making his first appearance for Mayo in 10 months, and O’Donoghue clawed a little back only for full-back Foley to get it on the act in additional time, finding the net when Rory Byrne parried Tony Brosnan’s strike.
“Jason Foley, I never saw him that high up in my life so look the game was kind of over at that stage,” smiled Jack O’Connor. “But Jason has been playing great football and it was only fitting he finished off the league getting a score.”
Kerry never surrendered their lead from the ninth minute. Up 0-6 to 0-3 after the first quarter, they had a couple of goal opportunities too, Paudie Clifford stopped by Byrne in the fifth minute and David Clifford whistled for a square ball four minutes later.
It hardly deterred them as they rattled off the next three scores before Conor Loftus had a chance at the other end as he reacted to Jack Carney’s shot coming off the post. James Carr picked up off the first of two first-half points soon after but Mayo were already chasing.
The difference was three points when Gavin White palmed in the first goal of the game in the 24th minute, the wing-back initially breaking three tackles to engineer the move. He offloaded to Geaney whose shot was half-blocked by Byrne and hung long enough in the air for White to finish to the net although he took a heavy hit in doing so.
Loftus cut Mayo’s deficit to four in the 33rd minute but David Clifford and Shane Ryan concluded the scoring in the first half.
Leading 1-10 to 0-7 at the turnaround, O’Connor wanted Kerry to dictate the pace of the game in the second period. “We felt in the first half it was a bit too helter-skelter for our benefit because we were turning over a lot of ball up in the forwards and Mayo were counter attacking us and we tried to calm things down at half-time and make sure we didn’t lose ball up in the forward line because Mayo were getting oxygen from our looseness up front.
"But very happy. Any day you kick 3-19 in Croke Park is a great day.”
As for the processional feel in the closing stages, O’Connor wasn’t complaining. “Jees, I was delighted. For one time in my life, I was able to get a bit of peace and ease. No, I wasn’t disappointed at all.”
There is little for him to be disappointed with after a most satisfying spring.
D. Clifford (1-6, 0-1 free); P. Geaney (0-5, 1 free); G. White, J. Foley (1-0 each); P. Clifford (1 45), A. Spillane (0-2 each); S. O’Brien, J. Barry, S. Ryan (free), D. Moynihan (0-1 each).
R. O’Donoghue (0-5, 3 frees); J. Carr, M. Plunkett (0-2 each); M. Ruane, J. Flynn, C. Loftus, C. O’Connor (0-1 each).
S. Ryan; J. Foley, G. O’Sullivan, T. O’Sullivan; B. Ó Beaglaoich, T. Morley, G. White; D. O’Connor, J. Barry; D. Moynihan, P. Clifford, A. Spillane; P. Geaney, D. Clifford (c), S. O’Brien.
G. Crowley for G. White (temp 27-32); T. Brosnan for S. O’Brien (49); G. Crowley for G. White (53); M. Burns for A. Spillane (63); J. O’Connor for J. Barry, J. Savage for D. Moynihan (both 66).
D. O’Connor (52-63).
R. Byrne; S. Coen (c), P. O’Hora, L. Keegan; M. Plunkett, R. Brickenden, E. Hession; J. Flynn, M. Ruane; C. Loftus, A. O’Shea, J. Carney; R. O’Donoghue, J. Doherty, J. Carr.
K. McLoughlin for J. Carney (h-t); C. O’Shea for J. Flynn (inj 47); A. Orme for J. Doherty (50); C. O’Connor for J. Carr (56); D. McHale for M. Ruane (66).
N. Mooney (Cavan).
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