Mayo 2-16
Kerry 0-17
Kevin O’Brien reports from Croke Park
MAYO’S SUMMER VOYAGE continues and on this viewing, they’re only getting better.
Stephen Rochford’s men outplayed Kerry in almost every sector to seal their in their fourth All-Ireland final in six years. It was Mayo’s first championship victory over Kerry since 1996 as they exacted revenge for the replay defeat in Limerick three years ago.
Mayo made a mockery of the tired cliches that have accompanied them throughout this summer campaign. Aidan O’Shea frustrated his marker Kieran Donaghy to such a degree that the Austin Stacks man lashed out at the 27-year-old in second-half stoppage-time.
‘Star’ was sent-off to the delight of the Mayo-dominated 53,032 crowd in what may be his last outing in a Kerry jersey.
Kerry had earlier lost Peter Crowley to a second yellow, while Paddy Durcan was dismissed for Mayo after picking up a second booking late on in the heated affair. The sides shared 14 yellows between them, while Darran O’Sullivan and Cillian O’Connor were both black carded in the space of seven minutes shortly after half-time.
Andy Moran once again gave a heroic display for the Connacht side. Everything that went into him stuck, he bagged 1-1 and saw his man Shane Enright hauled off after 39 minutes.
Paul Geaney (0-10) was a rare bright spark in the Kingdom attack, while James O’Donoghue (0-3) looked dangerous after coming in at the interval, but otherwise their forward line looked lifeless.
Mayo had the smarts to sit deep and block out the space in front of Donaghy in the final quarter, and reel off scores on the counter.
Mayo appeared to be rotating their full-back early on, with Donal Vaughan and Seamus O’Shea spending time there in the opening 10 minutes, before Aidan O’Shea moved inside on Donaghy and held him scoreless in an outstanding display.
The big pre-game move was Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s decision to bring in Jonathan Lyne, Jack Barry and debutant Tom O’Sullivan in place of Mark Griffin, Anthony Maher and O’Donoghue.
Paul Murphy lined out as a sweeper for Kerry, but it only served to invite Mayo’s running game and gave them an extra man in midfield.
Murphy was pushed up as a wing-forward after half-time, but the damage was done.
Mayo crucified Kerry’s kick-outs in the first-half, while David Clarke was able to go short with considerable ease.
Mayo retained every single one of Clarke’s kick-outs in the first half, while Colm Boyle made two outstanding fetches from as Mayo pressed Brian Kelly’s kicks and forced him to go long at the far end.
Kerry led by 0-4 to 0-3 after the opening 11 minutes, with Geaney looking lively, but the cracks were beginning to show. By the 25th minute, Cillian O’Connor had five converted frees to his name Kerry continued to foul the Mayo runners.
Diarmuid O’Connor fisted into the net two minutes later, after Donal Vaughan’s attempt for a point dropped invitingly in front of the goalmouth. It was a ball Kerry stopper Kelly should have dealt with, but his caution under the dropping ball was emblematic of his team.
Mayo led by five at half-time but had that lead stretched to eight after Moran slotted past Kelly for a second consecutive game. O’Donoghue looked eager to make up for lost time and edged Kerry back into the game after his arrival off the bench.
The Legion man and Geaney hit 0-5 between them in a productive spell for the Kingdom, leaving them 2-12 to 0-14 behind on 60 minutes. Crowley, Donaghy and Enright were dismissed as scores from Doherty (45) and O’Loughlin settled the Mayo nerves.
Scorers for Mayo: Cillian O’Connor 0-6 (0-6f), Andy Moran 1-1, Jason Doherty 0-3 (0-1 45, 0-1f), Diarmuid O’Connor 1-0, Kevin McLoughlin and Conor Loftus 0-2 each, Paddy Durcan and Chris Barrett 0-1 each.
Scorers for Kerry: Paul Geaney 0-10 (0-8f), James O’Donoghue 0-3 (0-1f), Johnny Buckley, Jack Barry, Fionn Fitzgerald and Jonathan Lyne 0-1 each.
Mayo
1. David Clarke (Ballina Stephenites)
2. Brendan Harrison (Aghamore)
3. Donal Vaughan (Ballinrobe)
4. Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis)
6. Chris Barrett (Belmullet)
11. Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy)
7. Colm Boyle (Davitts)
8. Seamus O’Shea (Breaffy)
9. Tom Parsons (Charlestown)
12. Diarmuid O’Connor (Ballintubber)
5. Lee Keegan (Westport)
10. Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore)
13. Jason Doherty (Burrishoole)
14. Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber – captain)
15. Andy Moran (Ballaghaderreen)
Subs
18. Paddy Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels) for Vaughan (35+2)
20. Conor Loftus (Crossmolina) for Diarmuid O’Connor (ht)
24. Conor O’Shea (Breaffy) for Cillian O’Connor (52, black-card)
19. Stephen Coen (Hollymount/Carramore) for Seamus O’Shea (60)
22. Danny Kirby (Castlebar Mitchels) for Boyle (68)
Kerry
1. Brian Kelly (Killarney Legion)
2. Shane Enright (Tarbert)
6. Tadhg Morley (Templenoe)
4. Killian Young (Renard)
7. Paul Murphy (Rathmore)
20. Jonathan Lyne (Killarney Legion)
5. Peter Crowley (Laune Rangers)
23. Tom O’Sullivan (Dingle)
8. David Moran (Kerins O’Rahillys)
17. Jack Barry (Na Gaeoil)
12. Donnchadh Walsh (Cromane)
11. Johnny Buckley (Dr Crokes – captain)
10. Stephen O’Brien (Kenmare Shamrocks)
13. Paul Geaney (Dingle)
14. Kieran Donaghy (Austin Stacks)
Subs
22. Darran O’Sullivan (Glenbeigh/Glencar) for Buckley (ht)
15. James O’Donoghue (Killarney Legion) for Walsh (ht)
18. Fionn Fitzgerald (Dr Crokes) for Enright (39)
21. Jack Savage (Kerins O’Rahillys) for Darran O’Sullivan (44, black-card)
3. Mark Griffin (St Michaels-Foilmore) for Young (50)
23. Barry John Keane (Kerins O’Rahillys) for Tom O’Sullivan (62)
9. Anthony Maher (Duagh) for Barry (65-, blood-sub)
Referee: David Hough (MeathG
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Mayo’s hunger is incredible. People go on about Kilkennys desire to keep coming back after victories, but Mayo keep coming back after crushing defeats, which is all the more impressive in my opinion.
Huge congrats to Mayo. What a team of warriors. To think we had “experts” on here last week, telling us Mayo would get hammered. I hope they go on and finally win it..
@Harry Corry: that your best you plonker :-) go get ready for school Monday and don’t stay up late
@Scott Crossfield: fair play to you for showing up. Still clueless though. Tw*t
@Harry Corry: gosh it’s bothering you Harry !!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Charles Murr: jeez sorry Harry thought that was the clueless tw8t Scott
@Harry Corry: yeap either had to return, now hopefully they will back it up and kick on. C u next time for your naughty words Hon Mayo
Gough had a stormer. Half of those Kerry players thought they were McGregor for the weekend that’s in it
@Kev: from a neutral, I thought ref was terrible. A good referee should be anonymous. He looked like he wanted to be centre of attention
@Kev: Not sure McGregor suits the analogy. Maybe someone that’s known for underhanded cheap shots. Very few ‘men’ on the Kerry team today.
@Quad Quad: I think it was the opposite. One of the teams today is used to getting the ref turning a blind eye to a lot of incidents, and that didn’t happen today. It worked out equal, even though a lot of the frees were soft compared to other days. I’m glad of the gaa finally cop on to all the of the ball rubbish that some fans like, but are ultimately detrimental to the game.
@Guybrush Threepwood: I’m not from Kerry but I’m sure they’re all men on that team.
Have you given up every spare minute of your life, year after year for anything in particular recently?
@Quad Quad: “I’m not from Kerry”
Course you’re not!
@Guybrush Threepwood: genuinely not from Kerry…from a hurling county actually, but I’m a Gaa fan and appreciate effort, sacrifices and entertainment all county players offer.
@Quad Quad: I don’t mind physical stuff, don’t even mind two players fighting. What I do mind are cheap shots – Getting your dig in cheaply and unsuspectingly and then moving away. That’s brings down the whole sport.
@Guybrush Threepwood a word of advice for you. Don’t watch the match tomorrow.
@Guybrush Threepwood: agreed but is there an inter county team at this stage if the championship that don’t do this?
@Gulliver Foyle: best ref going for spotting the off the ball stuff, he was brillant in connaught final and only wish he had the quarter final…
@Quad Quad: a good referee shouldn’t be anonymous! What’s the point of having a referee? He can be anonymous if it’s a clean open game, but there was a lot of niggle today. That’s not the referee’s fault.
Delighted for Mayo! Now c’mon Tyrone tomorrow! Make it a unique final
@Acedeuce:
Agreed
Time for a new Champion. They gotta want it though. Trouble is, Dublin are gonna take unreal beating
@Pj: no doubt about that
No complaints. Mayo superb and tough as nails. Definitely better equipped than Kerry to compete against Tyrone in the final.
Fair play to Mayo (I’m a kerryman) but Jaysus Gough ruined that game as a spectacle.
@King Ruck: I think the teams fighting ruined it as a spectacle…..from the throw in
@King Ruck: hard to blame the ref for all the off the ball stuff. I’m just pleased he caught most incidents and issued the appropriate action. If we had more refs like this a lot of the nonsense might be eradicated from the games.
Super Win for Mayo, Savage Team. Hope they Win it out now
Well @harrycorry I stand corrected, Mayo showed some great bottle and finally got over Kerry after all these years.
@Scott Crossfield: Good man Scott. That’s not a great Kerry tram. Couldn’t believe Mayo were 2/1 . Bookies paying for my pints..
@Harry Corry: *team
Amazing stuff from Mayo, the standout team in the country this season and lets hope they finally get their reward. Very rare to see Kerry humbled like this.
Credit to the ref, very fair in difficult conditions and wasn’t letting things go. Don’t often see that in the GAA.
@Rochelle: MAYO TO BOTTLE IT YET AGAIN IN THE FINAL!!
worst team to watch, scraped into a final with the strong hand of Gough pushing them on
@Brian Shaw: what drugs you on Brian?
@Rochelle: stand out team in the country this year? How did they do in the league and Connaught? Kerry were like Trocaire today. Good Mayo display but they are second best to the champions, always.
Delighted for Mayo. Hope they bring Sam back to the West.
As a proud Kerry supporter id like to wish Mayo a massive congratulations.
Best team today by a country mile.
Id also like to thank the Kerry team for their efforts this year.
Well done mayo but the ref had a shocker
@Ollie Watson: no he didn’t.
@Ollie Watson: I didn’t think ref had a shocker either. He had a lot of incidents to deal with and did his job well. Can’t think of anything that he got wrong.
The better team won on the day, congrats to Mayo and good luck in the final, there’s always next year!…..,
Could anyone please explain the fangirlism that RTÉ have for mayo? It’s actually nauseating at times.
@Sam Bingham: I hope that’s satire. If not, this must be your first gaa match in rte for 40 years!
@Gulliver Foyle: Joe brolly describes them at all of levels of sport as the most exciting county in the country. That is just one out of many examples from today.
Sad day for Kerry football, this team have had their day. I’d imagine a few players will depart the scene plus a new management set up.
@Frank Cauldhame: can’t imagine they’re too worried considering their minors are going for 4 in a row. The Kerry conveyer belt continues.
@Rocky Raccoon: Yep they are an amazing county for producing winning teams and I cant see that ever changing. This current team are no great shakes though, time to blood some of those minors.
@Niall Quinlan: The sad the thing for Kerry and those great minor teams is one of their own is smuggling them all over to Australia!
Kerry came up to Croke Park to bully mayo and it did not work. Loads of pulling of dragging by Kerry players during the game. Kerry management got their tactics completely wrong. What does P.Spillane, T.O’Shea, D’OShea…have to say now. They were so disrespectful to mayo during the week.
Well done Mayo – fully deserved. Kerry were a complete disgrace and their filthy play in the final 20 mins was disgusting. Kieran “The Hard Man” Donaghy, Maher among others brought shame to the county. FitzMaurice should do the decent thing and go … as today was Kerry’s worst performance in decades
@John Ryan: I’m sure once fitzmaurice reads your comment he will immediately resign, hang his head in shame and never be seen in public again. He just won’t have any other option…..get a grip for f**k sake
@Quad Quad: I think it’s Kerry who need to get a grip … u clown. Almost sounds as if ur proud of Kerry’s display. Enjoy the pints with Donaghy later – don’t get into any trouble now. Lol
@John Ryan: spot on john. Kerry were very poor and the indiscipline over the last 20 mins was shameful. Not sure what maher was trying to achieve other than cause a fight.
@John Ryan: classy reply…how can I argue with someone so articulate, deep thinking and vast unlimited knowledge of the game. You’re right of course…those damn amateurs playing the game and making all those sacrifices should resign. They are a disgrace…as you rightfully pointed out.
Ps. I’m not from Kerry…just a Gaa fan
@Quad Quad:
Fitzuseless is guaranteed another year, sadly.
@John Ryan: no im shur Donaghty punched thin air…it takes 2 to tango….U CLOWN!!
@ Shaw: ease up on the pints there. Kerry always such bad, sore losers.
@Brian Shaw: are you drunk Brian?
Waterford and Mayo to be champions this year……
@Paul: Maybe a Weshtern double
I think mayo have the fitness, resolve and ability to do it now.
@Tony Boyle: they need to sharpen up bigtime in front of goals though
Lovely…:)
All of a sudden Kerry are average, form team in da country till last week, credit where credit is due mayo are a very good team and hav been for 6 years, think there only team that can put it up to Dublin as has been shown in last two years
Well done mayo they were unreal today. Strange bringing cillian oconnor off with 20 mins to go , kerry were brutal , donnaghys last game id say . The dubs for 3 in a row
@ryan o sullivan: he got black carded
@Kieran Kelly: oh right i missed that , was thinking it was odd him going off. Tks
You reckon… Have to beat Tyrone first. And then if ye do ..Mayo awaits.. . And they have to beat ye sometime
@Rory Murphy: He missed that part too
@ryan o sullivan: ryan doing his best Chris Kamara impersonation there!! :-D
@Rory Murphy: you’d still have to favour this great Dublin team. They beat Mayo and Tyrone annually at this stage. Mayo are a fine team and could beat Dublin some day but Dublin would have to be seriously out of sorts for that to happen.
Well Done Mayo. Now let’s do the double and bring Liam and Sam west for a while
@Finnster: That would be great! Hon Mayo, Hon the Tribesmen!
@Finnster: the west awake :)
Joe Brolly will be saying:”What do you think of that now Kieran Donaghy!!!!!?
got to hand it to rochford.totally outclassed us.kerry so many passengers.Should never have gone to a replay anyways.Have still to finish it off though
Well done Mayo. Disgraceful dirty play by Kerry pulling and punching off the ball. thankfully it backfired on them.
Fantastic to see Mayo commit so much.
Mayo beat a bad kerry team today. Kerry under performed today. That was one of the worse kerry performance I’ve ever witnessed. You can forget mayo for sam this year. It’s gonna be either Dublin or Tyrone. No sour grapes well done mayo.
@Denis Riordan: that does seem a bit sour thou :)
@Patrick O’Sullivan: you caught me out.you read between the lines. UP THE DUBS.
@Denis Riordan: hopefully a cracker tomorrow Denis. I fear Dublin will make the final without having any test. I maybe wrong but just not convinced that Tyrone are at the standard of Dublin or Mayo yet. We will find out tomorrow.
Well done Mayo. Sorry but it ends again in final misery. Dublin just way too good.
@Mrs. Nugent: hard to disagree with u. Tomorrows game will at least let us know how good Tyrone are. I feel they have been blown up and that they haven’t meet a team of real quality yet. I hope i’m wrong and would love a tyrone win but i think the dubs will win by 5 or 6 pts.
Only a kick of a ball in it last year after the worst luck ever in the first game…. very thin line between winning and loosing… Dublin in No way way … too good for Mayo… the bare minimum between them last year .. roll in September be it ye or Tyrone.
@Rory Murphy: Rory agreed there’s not much between Mayo and Dublin but luck can’t be used as an excuse. You make your own luck. Dublin have won the last 3 ties now against mayo.
I have to admit today they looked like they finally have the mental resolve to get over the line.
Dublin might not be there though. That Tyrone team are ferocious. If it’s Dublin mayo again Dublin would still start as strong favourites
@Rory Murphy: In English please?
Mayo deserved it! Kerry game plan failed and didn’t work. But God what an awful game for the neutral again.. something seriously needs to be done to make it enjoyable to watch again!
@Yorkie1892: yes completely yorkie. If they would only get rid of the feckin hand passing might have some chance of it being a game worth watching again but unfortunately I don’t think that’s going to happen
I’m going now to have a good cry for myself, :((
@Donal O Cofaigh: ye will be back. The Kingdom are never down for long.
@Patrick O’Sullivan: very disappointed with discipline and game plan by Kerry today ,, a little bird tells me jack o Connor will be back at helm before long ,
Poor quality game overall,Hard luck on kerry but Mayo were deserving winners over the seventhy mins or so.I have said this before, “this a very average kerry team” and its funny how its taken until now for Colm o Rourke and Pat spillane and others to realize it,unfortunately for kerry now their will be alot of retirements and it looks like the conveyor belt although turning hasn’t produced the type of quality players required to beat the top teams.
Donaghy is one sore loser . Delighted Kerry got beaten
Well done Mayo. As a neutral love watching them play . Amazing the amount of heart and dedication those guys have.Hope they win the All Ireland and ignore the begrudgers. Every team should have an Andy Moran . Absolute legend.
Ooooohhhhh paul scanlon where art thou?
@stephen keane: hope your out in roscommon waving us by
@stephen keane: poor oul scanlon is probably crying into his porter the bitter yoke
@Scott Crossfield: fair play Kerry great for buttering Mayo Sam sandwiches!
Well done mayo, keep going back to the well so many times hope they can finish the job.
Its a poor Kerry team. The winner tomorrow could win well in the final.
@Donnacadh Hurley: that would be unlikely I’d imagine as Mayo don’t take heavy beatings as evidenced by the last number of years.
Well done to mayo..better team won…ref was an absolute joke…
David Clark MOM by a million miles game of his life.
Kerry the worst lovers ever.ha ha good riddance.
@Pat Troy: agreed
I remember a “lovely” girl from Castleisland who was fun of tricks and frolics.
But in Din Joes one night she choose a snack box over me. You win some you lose some !!
@John Carroll don’t worry about the conveyor belt. Brolly spouted the same shite in 2014 and the minors have gone unbeaten since. Most fellas except the exceptional few need to be 22/23 to be up to the pace and power of the senior intercounty game. Plenty quality to come in when the time is right.
@Liam o Siochain:Not worried Liam, Kerry have won three All Ireland minor titles since 1994 and are in the final again this year.But the fact is they were very fortunate indeed to beat Cork in the munster semi-final down in tralee in 2015 but for a dig out from the refree on the night and won by small margins in Munster in 2014 and 2016 and again the only difference this year was a poor set up by Cork and the class of David clifford.Galway beat Kerry this year quite easily in the All Ireland U21 championship semi final in what was believed to be the best ever U21 team to come out of kerry and Galway then lost to Dublin in the final.The pt is while it is better to be contesting and wining finals its no guarntee of senior success.
The worst display by any Kerry team in history. Made mayo look good ref was brutal too get him to spec savers.
Congratulations to Mayo on nearly winning the All Ireland again. Now go home and sign on!
@Irving Chubbie: Are you chubbie because of that chip on your shoulder
Worst Kerry team to ever play in crime park