Kerry 1-20 Mayo 1-11:So the Kingdom are back in familiar territory – ultimately crushing the brave resistance of Mayo to claim their place in the All-Ireland football final.
It wasn’t always vintage Kerry, yet when the questions were asked after a tense first-half they raised the tempo and skill level, with captain Colm “The Gooch” Cooper leading with artistic and creative example, dazzling the Mayo defence in the process, finishing with a superb 1-7.
The nine-point victory was well deserved, and makes for Kerry’s seventh All-Ireland appearance in eight years: they missed out last year, but played six in a row from 2004-2009 – and also completes one act of a potential Kerry-Dublin final. Next Sunday’s semi-final showdown between Dublin and Donegal will decide the second.
In front a fine crowd of 50,643 – fairly dominated by Mayo supporters – a tense, nervous first-half eventually turned into a more familiar vein of form for the Munster champions. Their class and experience told in the end, and most people predicted it would.
Yet Mayo – who beat All-Ireland champions Cork in the semi-final – certainly stood up to Kerry in the first half, yet were eventually over-run by Kerry’s greater scoring spread, and a mean Kerry defence that defied predictions (and in some cases age) by hounding and harassing the Mayo forwards, with Tom O’Sullivan and Killian Young sealing up both corners.
Indeed having rallied back from Mayo’s determined opening half hour, Kerry were two points clear at half-time – and slowly but surely pushed on from there.
Kieran O’Leary started the second-half landslide – opening the scoring after the interval, and although Mayo hit back again with points from Donal Vaughan and Andy Moran, that prompted the first substitute of the afternoon; Paul Galvin. Within moments he fired over a sweet point to push Kerry three points clear and from then on Kerry always looked comfortable. Galvin made a big difference when he came on, as Mayo found his work-rate impossible to contain.
Still, on 52 minutes Mayo were handed a lifeline: Moran’s shot was well saved, but Cillian O’Connor made no mistake with his return shot and Mayo were back to 16 to 1-8. But it was short-lived: one minute later, in a moment of pure genius, the Gooch scored a Kerry goal at the other end – and that Mayo heads almost visibly dropped.
Mayo had another great goal chance with 10 minutes to go when centre back Donal Vaughan was set up in front of his, but his shot blasted over the upright instead of under it. Brosnan made another vital block on Aidan O’Shea, as with that Mayo’s frustrations at trying to break down the Kerry defence became increasingly visible.
Kerry opened like a lightening strike, Darran O’Sullivan charging at goal in the opening seconds, and although his shot was deflected wide by goalkeeper Robert Hennelly, the signs for Mayo were ominous. Aidan O’Mahony switched to centre back – marking Alan Dillon – as Eoin Brosnan played on the left wing, and despite reports of being under pressure to get his place, held up very well.
After some nervous opening exchanges – Kerry kicking three wides in the first five minutes, with The Gooch also testing the woodwork – the first roar of the after came from the Mayo supporters, on six minutes, when Enda Varley split the posts.
Again, Darran O’Sullivan ripped the Mayo defence apart, and this time Hennelly saved brilliantly – but when the ball came back out Tomás Ó Sé opened the Kerry scoring with a thundering point. No worries about his hamstring, anyway.
Varley’s first free restored Mayo’s lead: Moran then forced a great save from Brendan Kealy, as the Connacht champions began testing the Kerry defence with increasing conviction. Varley converted a second free, pushing Mayo 0-3 to 0-1 in front, and crucially it looked as if Mayo had survived the opening 15-minute onslaught by Kerry.
The Gooch and Donal Vaughan exchanged scores – but Darran O’Sullivan hit his first from play, on 20 minutes, to restore one between them. Another Mayo free from O’Connor pushed Mayo two points ahead – with Kerry still limited to a paltry three points in the opening 25 minutes.
Kieran Donaghy was getting lots of possession yet couldn’t convert it into scores. Instead, Brosnan hit back with a long-range point – before finally, Donaghy did likewise – thus levelling the scores, 0-5 apiece, on 28 minutes.
Two minutes later Kerry were in front for the first time, courtesy of The Gooch – and with that Kerry seemed to steal the momentum: The Gooch added a second free, after some messy Mayo goalkeeping, then a free from Bryan Sheehan pushed Kerry three points clear. Mayo clawed one back, from Moran, just before half-time, yet went into the break 0-8 to 0-6 in appears – knowing Kerry had yet to play their best football.
And so it proved.
KERRY:B Kealy; K Young, M O Se, T O'Sullivan; T O Se, E Brosnan, A O'Mahony; A Maher, B Sheehan; Darran O'Sullivan, Declan O'Sullivan, D Walsh; C Cooper (capt), K Donaghy, K O'Leary.
MAYO:R Hennelly; T Cunniffe, G Cafferky, K Higgins; R Feeney, D Vaughan, T Mortimer; A O'Shea, S O'Shea; K McLoughlin, A Dillon, A Moran; E Varley, A Freeman, C O'Connor.
Referee:D Coldrick (Meath).