Kerry 0-16 

Mayo 0-15 

Paul Brennan reports from Austin Stack Park, Tralee 

KERRY SURVIVED late a Mayo comeback to grab a vital and just-about-deserved win in Tralee, with David Clifford scoring a 73rd minute point to snatch victory in the most dramatic of fashion. 

A draw and point apiece looked on the cards after Ryan O’Donoghue’s 70th-minute free tied the score at 0-15 apiece, and as the three additional minutes ebbed away it seemed as if Kerry wouldn’t or couldn’t engineer a winner.

Not until some patient play worked the ball to Clifford, and with the clock in the red the Footballer of the Year did what he does best: he launched over a point. It was a dramatic end to a game that lacked the usual crack and fizz of encounters between these counties, and whether or not Kerry deserved both points is a moot point.

They hit nine wides in all, butchered another couple of chances, and underwhelmed in a few departments, although Mayo didn’t pull up many trees either.

Having lost to Mayo in League and Championship last year, Kerry will be happy enough to have shown Mayo to the door in Tralee empty-handed, but Jack O’Connor will ruminate deep into the week on a scrappy performance that had Kerry scrambling for the win from a game they were only ever behind in for a minute at the very beginning.

Having trailed by three points on the 60-minute mark, and with stand-out defender Sam Callinan sent off on a yellow followed by a black card, Mayo dragged themselves back into the game until Ryan O’Donoghue’s converted free squared the scores in the 70th minute.

The allotted three minutes of additional time had almost elapsed when Kerry patiently worked the ball for one last counter-offensive, Sean O’Shea getting the ball to David Clifford and the Footballer of the Year doing the rest.

It was a win Kerry possibly just about deserved, though nine wides and a couple of shots dropped short could have denied them on another night. Mayo, too, will rue some sloppy shot execution, but the visitors couldn’t have been begrudged a share of the points but for Clifford’s late magic.

Fergal Boland punched Mayo into the lead after 25 seconds before David Clifford equalised a minute later, and Kerry were never behind after that.

In what was a passive sort of contest, Paudie Clifford put Kerry 0-3 to 0-1 ahead although missed chances were more the order of the half than brilliant scores.

Callinan’s eighth minute score was notable, but so was David Clifford’s uncharacteristic scuffed shot two minutes later to create a shot on goal that Colm Reape easily gathered.

Sean O’Shea and O’Donoghue exchanged pointed frees, then David Clifford and Callinan traded scores to make it 0-5 to 0-4 after 27 minutes.

Aidan O’Shea set up O’Donoghue for another Mayo point, before Jason Foley stormed forward to kick Kerry into a 0-7 to 0-5 half time lead.

With a strong wind it was a slim Kerry lead to take to the interval, having registered seven wides in the opening period. Dylan Geaney’s point opened up the game’s first three-point gap early in the second half, but Mayo found an extra gear in the second half and cut the deficit to a point by the 53rd minute.

Diarmuid O’Connor and Paudie Clifford extended Kerry into a 0-14 to 0-11 lead, and when Callinan was sent off in the 59th minute for a black card on top of an earlier yellow, Mayo’s challenge looked. However, Reape converted a free, and O’Donoghue scored twice to make it 0-15 apiece with three additional minutes to play. It took Kerry all of that time to engineer the one chance they needed when they got the ball to Clifford. The Footballer of the Year didn’t need to be asked what to do.

Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford 0-5, P Clifford 0-4, S O’Shea 0-4 (3f), J Foley 0-1, D Geaney 0-1, D O’Connor 0-1

Scorers for Mayo: R O’Donoghue 0-5 (2f), F Boland 0-3, S Callinan 0-2, D O’Connor 0-1, B Tuohy 0-1, J Flynn 0-1, D McHale 0-1, C Reape 0-1 (f)

KERRY

1. Shane Ryan

2. Graham O’Sullivan, 3. Jason Foley, 4. Dylan Casey

5. Tom O’Sullivan, 6. Tadhg Morley, 7. Gavin White

8. Diarmuid O’Connor, 9. Joe O’Connor

10. Paudie Clifford, 11. Dylan Geaney, 12. Cillian Burke

13. David Clifford, 14. Seán O’Shea, 15. Dara Moynihan

Subs: Conor Geaney for D Geaney (49), Barry Dan O’Sullivan for J O’Connor (54), Paul Murphy for T Morley (58), Adrian Spillane for D Moynihan (63), Ronan Buckley for C Burke (66)

MAYO 

1. Colm Reape

2. Jack Coyne, 3. David McBrien, 4. Donnacha McHugh

19. Sam Callinan, 18. Rory Brickenden, 7. Enda McLaughlin

8. Jack Carney, 9. Diarmuid O’Connor

10. Bob Tuohy, 11. Fergal Boland, 12. Jordan Flynn

13. Aidan O’Shea, 14. Tommy Conroy, 15. Ryan O’Donoghue

Subs: Darren McHale for A O’Shea (48), Enda Hession for E McLoughlin (48), Stephen Coen for D McBrien (58), Cillian O’Connor for B Tuohy (59), Ciaran Boland for T Conroy (71).

Referee: Derek O’Mahoney (Tipperary)