Mayo adhere to tradition as their late show downs Kildare 

11 June 2022; Oisín Mullin of Mayo goes past Paul Cribbin of Kildare on his way to score a goal during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 2 match between Mayo and Kildare at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

MAYO 2-13 KILDARE 0-14

An off-colour Mayo managed to turn around a six-point second half deficit to beat Kildare by five this evening and reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

Kildare were six to the good up to the 44th minute and were still five ahead when Enda Hession made what seemed a goal-denying save from Daniel Flynn.

Mayo made a lot of that lay-off and were three back when referee Derek O’Mahoney made a strange call in favour of Mayo as it appeared Oisín Mullin had pulled back Ben McCormack before the Kildare forward had touched the ball on the ground.

The margin was three again in the 62nd minute when Mullin completed a sloppy one-two with Pádraig O’Hora and convincingly finished a goal to level the qualifier. Three minutes later, Fergal Boland put Mayo ahead for the first time.

Shea Ryan came back with a Kildare point but Cillian O’Connor then capitalised on a poor Kildare restart. Darren McHale found his range and replacement Jordan Flynn’s speculative shot lobbed Aaron O’Neill for a second Mayo goal at the death.

The first quarter served up by these teams was simply dreadful. Kildare were marginally less bad but then they didn’t score their first from play until the 16th minute. Mayo scored just twice from their first nine opportunities and didn’t manage a third point until the 29th minute, the total at half-time reading five of 15 chances converted.

Jimmy Hyland’s third free just after the half-hour mark put Kildare 0-6 to 0-3 ahead and they were four ahead when Mayo offered a glimpse of their potential. Eoghan MacLaughlin’s brace of points came in less than two minutes and Aaron O’Neill had to push over his second strike after Jack Carney caught another Mayo scoring attempt that dropped short.

Hyland finished out the half with another free as Stephen Coen was compelled to foul Ben McCormack as Kildare caught Mayo on the break and the Lilywhites were deservedly 0-8 to 0-5 to the good.

Scorers for Mayo: C. O’Connor (0-3, 1 free); O. Mullin, J. Flynn (1-0 each); E. McLaughlin, L. Keegan, F. Boland (0-2 each); J. Carney, C. Loftus, D. O’Connor, D. McHale (0-1 each).

Scorers for Kildare: J. Hyland (0-6, 4 frees); K. O’Callaghan (0-2); D. Malone, K. Feely, B. McCormack, D. Flynn, N. Flynn, S. Ryan (0-1 each).

MAYO: R. Hennelly; L. Keegan, O. Mullin, E. Hession; P. Durcan, S. Coen (c), E. McLaughlin; A. O’Shea, M. Ruane; J. Carney, D. O’Connor, C. Loftus; C. O’Connor, J. Doherty, J. Carr.

Subs for Mayo: F. Boland for J. Doherty (29); D. McHale for A. Carr (44); P. O’Hora for S. Coen (46); J. Flynn for A. O’Shea (61); A. Orme for J. Carney (70).

KILDARE: A. O’Neill; M. O’Grady, S. Ryan, R. Houlihan; D. Malone, D. Hyland, K. Flynn; K. Feely, K. O’Callaghan; F. Conway, B. McCormack, A. Beirne; J. Hyland, D. Flynn, N. Flynn.

Subs for Kildare: P. Cribbin for A. Beirne (31); D. Kirwan for N. Flynn (55); P. McDermott for F. Conway (70+1); B. McLoughlin for J. Hyland (70+2).

Referee: D. O’Mahoney (Tipperary).