Allianz Football League Division 1 – Kerry 1-12 Mayo 1-12

Sheehan rescues Kingdom in Act I

Kerry 1-12 Mayo 1-12

By Kieran McCarthy, Austin Stack Park for the Irish Examiner newspaper

If the sequel matches the original then next weekend’s Allianz Football League Division 1 semi-final between Kerry and Mayo is certainly not one to miss. Despite trailing by eight points (1-8 to 0-3) at one stage in the first-half, table-toppers Kerry salvaged a last-gasp draw against 14-man Mayo, thanks to a Bryan Sheehan trademark free in injury-time. After a game that had everything — a Mayo red-card, a Kerry penalty, a host of yellow cards, a disallowed Kingdom goal and an injury-time leveller — the two counties will now clash again next weekend in a league semi-final.

But Kerry boss Jack O’Connor was satisfied that his charges stretched the county’s unbeaten run to five games, insisting momentum is important. “We started poorly and gave them an eight-point lead but we were determined to keep the run going for as long as we can so it was good to come back and get the draw. Our fellas fought tooth and nail. We had a lot of new players in there. It was a great experience and they will improve from it.” And even though this draw was enough to take Mayo into the league semi-finals and banish any prospect of relegation, manager James Horan admitted his side struggled once wing-back Lee Keegan was red-carded (two yellows) 11 minutes into the-second-half. “That affected us as we ran out of juice in the second half and Kerry came on strong at us. We held out though and got in some good turnovers. We had chances near the end but the lads did not take the right shot options. We had a couple frees in the scoring-zone that we missed but we will look at those and review them.”

Mayo bossed the majority of the first-half, thanks to the midfield dominance of Aidan O’Shea and the forward prompting of Andy Moran, Kevin McLoughlin, Alan Dillon and Cillian O’Connor. They moved 0-3 to 0-1 ahead inside ten minutes, with O’Connor (2 frees) and Jason Doherty on target. While Kerry drew level (0-3 apiece) and had a Colm Cooper goal disallowed, Mayo rattled off 1-5 without reply to surge 1-8 to 0-3 ahead, as Jason Doherty fisted a Cillian O’Connor centre to the net.

The hosts, wearing black armbands in memory of former Kerry players John Egan and Dermot Hanafin who passed away in recent days, finished the half on a high, when a pair of Sheehan frees sandwiched efforts from Cooper and Patrick Curtin and Kerry trailed 1-8 to 0-7 at half-time. Needing inspiration, Kerry rolled their big guns off the bench, with Paul Galvin, Darran O’Sullivan, Marc Ó Sé and Declan O’Sullivan all called into action for “a bit of composure and a bit and energy” according to O’Connor. Early scores from Kevin McLoughlin, Cillian O’Connor (free) and Alan Dillon pushed Mayo 1-11 to 0-8 after 45 mins, but then after Lee Keegan was dismissed, the tide turned in Kerry’s favour.

After a Sheehan free was cancelled out by an Andy Moran point — Mayo’s last of the day after 48 minutes — the Kingdom made their move, with a Galvin point, soon followed by a Sheehan penalty after Cooper was fouled in the square (1-12 to 1-10). Just after another Kerry penalty shout was waved away, when Patrick Curtin went down, another Sheehan free set-up a grand-stand finish. And the Kerry midfielder delivered in injury-time, squaring the match so both counties must do it all again next weekend in a league semi-final.

Scorers for Kerry: B Sheehan 1-6 (1-0 pen, 6f), P Curtin 0-3, C Cooper 0-2, P Galvin 0-1.

Scorers for Mayo: C O’Connor (0-6, frees), J Doherty (1-1), K McLoughlin (0-2), A Dillon, A Moran, D Clarke (‘45’) (0-1 each).

Subs for Kerry: P Galvin for D O’Callaghan (ht); Darran O’Sullivan for BJ Keane (ht); M Ó Sé for E Brosnan (45); Declan O’Sullivan for K O’Leary (47); J O’Donoghue for J Buckley (58).

Subs for Mayo: K Keane for E Reilly (47); C Mortimer for M Conroy (48); E Regan for C O’Connor (55); S McHale for J Doherty (68).

Referee: M Condon (Waterford)