Six out of ten: Jack O'Connor says Kerry still have plenty to work on

Glass half full: Kerry manager Jack O'Connor

THE point they left after them in Tralee against Derry bounced back in Kerry’s favour Saturday night as they squeaked a win from a ding-dong battle with rivals Mayo.

Not that Kerry manager Jack O’Connor was doing cartwheels around the tunnel area afterwards.

His rating? A maximum of six out of ten. If only the players were as accurate with their shooting as the manager was in his assessment of the 0-16 to 0-15 win over Kevin McStay’s side.

“We missed a lot of chances in first half, our lads very enthusiastic and mad for work but probably lacking a bit of poise. We should have been three or four up at the break, that would have made things easier in the second half.” 

In fact Kerry did edge into a three-point lead once Mayo were reduced to fourteen men with the dismissal of Sam Callinan, but even then they couldn’t close the game out as the visitors reeled off three points on the spin to level.

“We weren’t getting our kickouts off as easy as we should have, even with the extra man. There are a lot of things to tidy up. We wouldn’t be overly happy with the display.

“Naturally we are delighted with the result but no doubt there are improvements t be made, especially in front of goal.” 

In the one-point defeat to Derry at the same ground last month, Kerry had one final shot at an equaliser but butchered the play with the ball ending up in keeper Shane Ryan’s hands for the Hail Mary shot. At least Kerry showed they’d learned from that poorly executed play.

“That’s the thing that pleased me – that last play, we learned from the Derry game, showed a bit of composure, and got the ball into the hands of our main men, like Seanie and ultimately David (Clifford).

Picture perfect: Kerry’s David Clifford leaves the field after kicking the winning point

The Clifford brothers kicked nine points from play between them – a “savage return” said O’Connor.

“We were guilty of turning over a bit of ball up front, Mayo are a counter attacking team. You have to kill the ball and maybe go after their kickout then. They came well into the game, kicked some great scores and are in great physical shape.” 

Seven of the extended panel on their way back from injury trained Saturday morning in Currans and some may be involved in the squad to face Dublin next weekend in Croke Park.

“Going up to Croke Park, especially with this win, will put a spring in our step but make no illusions, we have a lot of improving to do,” O’Connor insisted.

The irony wasn’t lost on Mayo manager Kevin McStay that his side lost for the first time in the League playing their best football to date.

“We just hung around, didn’t we? There was a sense that we were just not going away and it was the same against Dublin. We got it level and anything could have happened. “We can’t be too annoyed though, we might have stolen an extra point against Dublin but left one behind us tonight. But the first half turnovers was the main negative. We got plenty of possession, but we were giving it away. Our turnover count was not where it needed to be. A big work on.” 

McStay, who confirmed Paddy Durcan missed out with a calf tweak, also saw positives in Mayo’s scramble defence – if not overjoyed with the frequency it was necessitated.

“We gave the ball away cheaply in the first half, and minimised that after the break. That brought us back into the game. That gives me great encouragement that we rectified things, but the lads know that if you give the ball away to a side like Kerry it might be a while before you get it back.

“Overall, we are going to leave Tralee happy we performed quite well and learned a lot. We have a lot of good footballers, our accuracy was good, we will build on that, plenty lot of positives –the big thing though is no points.”