Kerry pull away from Mayo in injury time
Mayo 0-15 Kerry 1-16
Mayo failed to gain revenge for last September’s All-Ireland final defeat to Kerry as the two sides locked horns in the National Football League today.
Mayo, who trailed by seven points midway through the second half, almost mounted a dramatic comeback but Kerry just had enough to hold them off.
In a tight opening quarter hour, Kerry took an early 0-4 to 0-3 lead as the sides exchanged points.
Declan Quill was on top form, scoring five points for the Kingdom as they secured a 0-8 to 0-7 half-time lead.
Colm Cooper doubled that lead with a point early in the second half before Alan Dillon hit back with a pointed free.
Kerry took control 10 minutes into the half with an Eoin Brosnan goal and proceeded to open up a seven-point lead.
Mayo showed good spirit to close the gap to four points with just four minutes to play. Peadar Gardiner followed up with another point to give Mayo hope as the fourth official signalled there would be two minutes of added time.
Kieran McDonald then put over the point of the day to close the gap to just two points.
However, Mayo failed to show the killer instinct and Kerry pulled away with two injury-time points.
