NFL Division 1 final: Kerry 1-18 Mayo 1-12
Kerry‘s Gavin White became the first captain to collect the Corn Mhichíl Uí Mhuircheartaigh after Sunday’s National Football League Division 1 final. The great Dún Síon broadcaster would however have been about the only one who might have been able to inject much excitement into the day’s proceedings.
It was the least compelling of the four division finals and played out before a suitably poor attendance of 21,596.
The winners had the match well within their control for most of the 70 minutes. Mayo briefly threatened a grandstand finishing quarter when Eoghan McLaughlin sped in for a 47th-minute goal and within a minute Ryan O’Donoghue had kicked a two-point free for a 4v3 breach to get the margin back to a score, 1-13 to 1-10.
The challenge faded quickly and with neither side shooting the lights out – David Clifford finished with five wides – Kerry did enough to get over the line without undue stress, outscoring Mayo 0-5 to 0-2 in the final quarter.
Both counties were surprise finalists, going into the concluding round in fourth and fifth place respectively, and whereas the Croke Park outing was a boon for Kerry, who aren’t in championship action for another three weeks, it was a bit more pressurised for Mayo, who face Sligo in Connacht in seven days’ time.
It was important for Mayo not to lose badly, as they did three years ago when going down to the same opposition by double digits, and that low bar was cleared, but manager Kevin McStay wasn’t sugar coating his view of the overall display.
“I just thought we were a little bit leggy maybe, or just didn’t get to the pitch of the game. Never asked a big question at all. That’s the disappointing part in terms of we didn’t mind the ball properly at this level of the game,” McStay said of their performance.
It is true that their rate of unforced turnovers was demoralising. Kerry’s goal came from a kickout that David Clifford dexterously flicked to his brother Paudie, who squared for Paul Geaney to put in the net. Four minutes earlier, there had been fair warning on the consequences of careless distribution when a Mayo attack broke down after Jack Carney was turned over and seconds later Paul Geaney was popping it over the bar at the other end.
There were other times when players appeared to mistake opponents for team-mates, so McStay’s dismay was understandable.
Just a few weeks ago Mayo beat Kerry in Castlebar in their fifth round meeting, but the strengths they showed that evening had evaporated at Croke Park. That powerful centrefield showing never looked like re-materialising with Matthew Ruane subdued by Joe O’Connor and Barry Dan O’Sullivan, and their own restarts came back at them relentlessly.
Even when they managed to get a hand to the kickouts Kerry were far hungrier on the breaking ball.
Enda Hession had done a good job on Paudie Clifford, Kerry’s playmaker, in Castlebar but here, Clifford was a deserving man of the match, hoovering up ball and using it constructively.
Jack O’Connor wasn’t raving either about his achievement in winning a fifth league – with the added context that All-Irelands followed the other four – but, as he said, “sure, any day you come up here and get home with a bit of silverware is good. It’s nice that it’s the Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh trophy as well. We didn’t do a lot of talking about it but just looking at it now, it’s nice that we won the inaugural one.”
The early goal put Mayo under pressure. Their movement was more ponderous, and they struggled to create decent openings. Aidan O’Shea led the way, using his physicality to get on the ball and kick three first-half points but they never got to the tempo of Kerry’s bobbing and weaving – picking them off with points here and a free there.
McStay felt aggrieved that full back Donnacha McHugh had been deemed the aggressor in all of his dealings with David Clifford, but Mayo’s issues were more profound. After O’Shea had put them 0-4 to 0-2 ahead in the 10th minute, they lost the rest of the half, 0-3 to 1-7.
Their defence did its best and had some success in shutting down attacks and using Stephen Coen in the forwards as a break on Gavin White worked for a while, but the flow of possession gave them too much to do given how laboriously they were making inroads at the other end.
They sailed close to the wind at times. Mike Breen put Graham O’Sullivan through in the 25th minute but the shot flashed wide. Reape saved from Micheál Burns in the 42nd minute after David Clifford had placed him straight in on goal, and when the goalkeeper injured himself, replacement Adrian Phillips was called into action late on to foil Clifford in a one-on-one.
Once again, Kerry didn’t trouble the orange flag umpire but when asked was he concerned about the team’s lack of two-pointers, O’Connor made the obvious point.
“I wouldn’t care if we never kicked a two-pointer for the rest of the year if we can keep winning matches.”
Mayo haven’t always looked comfortable shooting from outside the 40-metre arc but Ryan O’Donoghue got the match’s only such score. They weren’t disgraced but the mood is downbeat as they get ready for Sligo.
Kerry have key players to return from injury. All Star Tom O’Sullivan appeared in the second half here and Seán O’Shea and Diarmuid O’Connor have still to get back. It’s been a functional but encouraging league for Kerry, but Mayo will have to find comfort elsewhere.
KERRY: S Murphy; P Murphy, D Casey, J Foley; B Ó Beaglaoich, M Breen, G White (capt); J O’Connor (0-0-2), B D O’Sullivan (0-0-1); G O’Sullivan, P Clifford (0-0-3, 2’45), M Burns (0-0-1); D Clifford (0-0-8, 4f), P Geaney (1-0-2, 1f), D Geaney.
Subs: T Brosnan for D Geaney (46 mins), S O’Brien for BD O’Sullivan (47), C Geaney (0-0-1) for Burns, T O’Sullivan for Ó Beaglaoich (both 54), K Spillane for G O’Sullivan (66), R Murphy for P Geaney (temp, 70).
MAYO: C Reape; S Callinan, J Coyne, D McHugh; D McBrien, E Hession, E McLaughlin (1-0-0); J Flynn (0-0-1), M Ruane; C Reid, J Carney (0-0-1), S Coen (capt); A O’Shea (0-0-3), F Irwin (0-0-1), R O’Donoghue (0-1-3, 1tpf, 2f).
Subs: D McHale for Reid (33 mins), P Towey (0-0-1) for Irwin (42), D Neary for Flynn (45), A Phillips for Reape (54), D O’Connor for Coen (63).
Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).
