Cooper inspired Kerry power past Mayo
Kerry 0-13 Mayo 0-11
Colm 'Gooch' Cooper turned in a brilliant individual display as he powered Kerry to an entertaining National Football League win over Mayo this afternoon.
Cooper was head and shoulders above any other player on the Austin Stack Park pitch, tallying up eight points as Kerry maintained their 100% record in Division 1.
Credit to Mayo, they made a real game of it despite struggling to name a team due to injuries and the busy period of college and Under-21 fixtures.
Both sides played open, attacking football right from the throw-in, with good movement off the ball and some crisp passing.
Kerry were first to settle and they moved into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead thanks to points from Kieran Donaghy and Cooper (0-2).
Indeed, the game was scoreless until Donaghy landed his point in the 19th minute.
Before that, Mayo had failed to convert a decent goal-scoring chance when Alan Dillon had his effort cleared after a scramble in the Kerry defence.
Mayo had a purple patch when midfielder Ronan McGarrity picked up a point and Conor Mortimer landed a 20-metre free.
But Cooper was showing his class at the other end, putting the home side 0-5 to 0-2 ahead with his third and fourth points.
Kerry's defending was not as assured and Mayo were soon back within goal-scoring range. On 28 minutes, Austin O'Malley should have done better when through on goal but Kerry goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy reacted smartly to block his effort away.
Donaghy then blazed wide as Kerry pressed for a goal and the Kingdom ended the half on top with Micheal Quirke and Cooper, with his sixth point, pushing the lead out to 0-8 to 0-4.
The intensity went up a notch on the resumption, with Mayo having the better of the ball and putting their wind advantage to good use.
Successive points from Dillon (free), O'Malley and Andy Moran closed the gap to a single point.
Kerry rallied immediately and two more points from Cooper and one from Darren O'Sullivan gave Jack O'Connor's men some added cushion.
O'Sullivan added another of a skyscraper variety, a few minutes later, but Mayo set up a tense finale with pointed efforts in reply from Aidan Kilcoyne and Moran.
Losing key defender Marc O Se to injury dented Kerry's chances of holding on for the victory, however Mayo contributed to their downfall when Conor Mortimer missed a gilt-edged goal chance in the dying minutes.
Kerry held on to maintain pace with unbeaten Galway at the top of the table, while this defeat sees Mayo in fifth place.
