O’Connor shines as Mayo recover to sweep past wasteful Kerry
THE intense rivalry between Kerry and Mayo was rekindled in this Allianz League top flight clash at Austin Stack Park last night when Mayo produced a stirring secondhalf comeback to bring the Kingdom crashing down to earth after last weekend’s away win away to Donegal.
The game was finely balanced until the final minutes but Mayo deserved victory based on their second-half display as Kerry’s indiscipline proved costly.
Kerry had dominated the first half but they failed to hammer home their advantage. Mayo made them pay in the second half as they began to assume control courtesy of sharpshooter Cillian O’Connor who converted five frees to add to his four in the opening half, leaving Kerry’s young guns to rue some crucial misses
Kerry lost both Paul Geaney and Cillian Young in the opening half and then when they had used all their substitutes, Jason Foley was sent off after receiving a black card. The game was still in the balance and referee Pádraig Hughes raised the ire of both sets of supporters and players.
Buoyed by victory in Letterkenny last weekend, the home side were quick out of the blocks with David Moran and, in particular, Jack Barry dominating midfield but they failed to turn their possession into scores.
The Kingdom opened the scoring with a good run and point from Barry and this was followed by a beauty from the boot of Jack Savage as Mayo struggled to make an impact on the game as they aimed to get over the previous week’s defeat to Monaghan.
Barry John Keane, who replaced Paul Geaney, made an immediate impression by scoring a fine point following a superb pass from Barry. Points followed from Paul Murphy and Barry with Cillian O’Connor (free) and Andy Moran keeping Mayo in touch.
However, Kerry struck for a crucial goal in the 29th minute when Savage took a short free to David Moran and John Keane finished to the Mayo net. Mayo ended the half with two points from the boot of Cillian O’Connor to trail 1-7 to 0-6 at the interval but Kerry would later regret their profligacy in front of goal and that penalty miss by Moran. Mayo meant business on the resumption as Kerry lost their way and Conor O’Shea claimed the opening point of the half. It might well have been a goal as Mayo took over and points from Kevin McLoughlin and four converted frees from Cillian O’Connor had the sides level, 1-9 to 0-12, with 15 minutes to go. O’Connor edged Mayo in front in the 60th minute and the Kingdom failed to get off the mark at all in the final 15 minutes.
Mayo were in complete control and the opposition were fast running out of scoring ideas, with this period littered with yellow and black cards.
Following a flare-up at the final whistle, Tom Parsons was shown a straight red card by Hughes.