A DOMINANT KERRY brushed Mayo aside to win the All-Ireland Junior Football Championship title on Saturday afternoon.
The Kingdom were on top throughout the game and won by 0-19 to 1-7, with Conor Cox top-scoring with seven points.
Early points from Niall O’Mahony (2) and Cox saw Kerry take a 0-3 to 0-0 lead, and although Ronan McNamara managed to reduce the arrears from a placed ball, the Munster side were ahead from start to finish.
Mayo were lucky when goalkeeper Paul Mannion saved a Cox penalty, having himself pulled down Kerry centre-back Jack Sherwood inside the large rectangle.
Kerry were running amok. David O’Callaghan, O’Mahoney, Cox and Alan O’Sullivan all pointed approaching half-time and they would have had an eight-point advantage were it not for late Mayo points from Enda McManamon and ‘keeper Mannion.
O’Mahony and O’Callaghan started the second half as Kerry had begun the first, with points, while Mayo scored through Michael Forde and McManamon.
The two teams continued to trade blows until the first, and only, goal of the game came through Mayo substitute Joe Kelly. That left only four points in it but was as close as the Westerners would come, as Kerry closed out the game in style through Michael O’Donoghue, O’Mahony, Cox (2) and substitute Colm Kerins.
Mayo’s misery was complete with the late sending off of Michael Walsh for a second yellow card.
