First half promise dissipates in disappointing second half

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 1

Kerry 1-10 Mayo 0-15 IT had all started so positively.

Bang, bang, bang. Kerry were three-zip in front after just three minutes. There was an energy and purpose to Kerry in those early exchanges. By the end of the match that had largely dissipated.

By then the Kingdom were a team struggling for coherence, struggling for an identity. Disappointing for the big Kerry crowd in attendance for sure, in the circumstances somewhat understandable.

In key positions Kerry were struggling for leadership. James O’Donoghue cried off before the ball was even thrown in. Paul Geaney went off injured after seventeen minutes. Killian Young followed him ten minutes later. Three players who in normal circumstances would be leading the vanguard.

With a relatively inexperienced side on view that proved critical when the game reached its clutch point in the second half. During the first half, however, Kerry’s momentum and energy and enthusiasm sustained them.

It allowed Kerry to retire four points to the good at the break. It could have been and probably should have been twice that margin. Adrian Spillane was desperately unlucky that his shot on five minutes didn’t find its way to the back of the net, instead rattling the crossbar.

Spillane was involved again on twelve minutes when he was fouled for a penalty. David Moran stepped up, shot to his left, but found All Star goalkeeper David Clarke in fine form.

Had either of those two chances been taken Kerry would likely have won the game or at least been in a very strong position to do so. As Eamonn Fitzmaurice noted after the game, goals are more than just three points on the board.

Even so there was so much to be encouraged by in that first half. Especially after Barry John Keane came into the fray in place of Geaney. The Strand Road man gave every indication of being annoyed at not starting in the first place – within two minutes of his introduction he was palming over the bar having taken an assist from Jack Barry.

Indeed that too could have been a goal as Keane was pretty much one-on-one with Clarke by the time it came to him. Five minutes after that again Kerry had a fourth solid goal chance of the first half, this time Jack Barry blasted over for a point to make it a three point game – 0-7 to 0-4.

Kerry finally got the breakthrough on twenty nine minutes with Jack Savage and David Moran combining to set up Keane for the finish. It gave Kerry a six point advantage that was no less than their efforts deserved.

At the time it didn’t seem hugely consequential that Mayo managed to whittle it down to a four point advantage by half-time – 1-7 to 0-6 – courtesy of a couple of Cillian O’Connor frees. In hindsight it was evidence for Mayo getting their house in order and taking the game to the Kingdom.

In the third quarter the scale of the challenge Kerry faced became evident and did so very quickly. Just seconds after the restart Stephen Coen set up Andy Moran for a goal chance. Moran shot over for a point, but the implications for Kerry were clear – Mayo were a different kettle of fish entirely from their insipid first half performance.

The question soon became one of how Kerry’s young guns would cope when on the back foot instead of on the front. The answer was not altogether that surprising. A forward line that created chances for fun in the first half was held to just three points in the second and the last of those was scored with about fifteen minutes still to be played.

The defence meanwhile showed up well at times and not so well at others. Far too many frees were conceded, O’Connor converted five from placed balls in the second half alone and nine in all.

Still for all that was wrong with Kerry’s second half performance – not all the experienced hands led as their manager would have liked them to, others like Peter Crowley and Paul Murphy did – it took Mayo until the sixty fifth minute to take the lead for the first time. Moran made it 1-10 to 0-14 with a point from play.

All of which suggests that whatever about the disappointment in Kerry and elation for Mayo there’s very little to separate these sides. Fitzmaurice would have loved to have taken the two points on offer obviously, but the positives from the game shouldn’t be discounted even as work remains to be done. KERRY: Brian Kelly, Ronan Shanahan, Mark Griffin, Killian Young, Jonathan Lyne, Peter Crowley, Tadhg Morley, David Moran, Jack Barry (0-2), Adrian Spillane, Paul Murphy (0-1), Donnchadh Walsh, Jack Savage (0-1), Paul Geaney (0-2f), Conor Keane Subs: Barry John Keane (1-3) for P Geaney, 19, Tom O’Sullivan for K Young, 27, Mikey Geaney for A Spillane, 45, Conor Geaney (0-1) for C Keane, 47, Jason Foley for R Shanahan, 56 Black Cards: Barry O’Sullivan for J Lyne, 59, Jason Foley not replaced, 67 MAYO: David Clarke, David Newcombe, Keith Higgins, Patrick Durcan, Colm Boyle, Stephen Coen, David Drake, Donal Vaughan, Tom Parsons (0-1), Fergal Boland, Kevin McLoughlin (0-1), Jason Doherty, Conor O’Shea (0-1), Andy Moran (0-3), Cillian O’Connor (0-9f) Subs: Eoin O’Donoghue for D Drake, 23, Diarmuid O’Connor for F Boland, 45, Shane Nally for D Vaughan, 50, Evan Regan for J Doherty, 58, Danny Kirby for C O’Shea, 69 Black Card: Michael Plunkett for E Regan, 67 REFEREE: Padraig Hughes (Armagh)