Kerry 2-8
Mayo 0-4

by Stuart Tynan

An early second half blitz saw TG4 All-Ireland champions Kerry boost their chances of a Division 1 final spot in the Lidl NFL and left Mayo staring relegation in the face.

Despite only scoring two points in the first half through Saoirse Lally and Kayla Doherty when they had the wind, Mayo were competitive in the opening 30 minutes but Danielle O'Leary’s goal a minute after the restart was a huge set-back for the home side in Swinford.

Any faint hopes of a comeback were ended by Siofra O’Shea’s goal on 52 minutes, the full-forward finishing with 1-5, with Kayla Doherty getting Mayo’s only scores in the second half from frees late on.

Kerry know victory over Meath in their next game will see them guarantee their spot in the league final, while Mayo must beat both Kildare and Waterford if they are to have any chance of staying up.

Mayo opened the scoring through a fisted effort by Lally on six minutes but a point from Rachel Dwyer and two monster frees by O’Shea put the visitors 0-3 to 0-1 up at the end of the first quarter.

Liam McHale’s side were proving a difficult nut to crack however, with Lally, Erin Murray, Bree Hession and Hannah Reape making life difficult for the Kingdom. O’Shea’s third free of the half on 29 minutes was Kerry’s sole score of the second quarter and Kayla Doherty’s first free of the day left only two between them, 0-4 to 0-2, at the break with Mayo set to play with the wind.

The introduction of All Star Naimh Carmody and Kayleigh Cronin saw Kerry up the tempo. After two quickfire points, another of their All Stars O’Leary rifled home a goal to put them 1-6 to 0-2 ahead.

O’Shea added another free before she wrapped the game up for the visitors when her free from 20 metres looped into the net. Niamh Ní Chonchúir rounded off the scoring for Kerry late on with a well-taken effort.

Scorers - Kerry: S O'Shea 1-5 (1-4f), D O'Leary 1-0, R Dwyer 0-1, M O'Connell 0-1, N Ní Chonchúir 0-1.

Mayo: K Doherty 0-3f, S Lally 0-1.

KERRY: M Bolger; E Lynch, D Kearney, R Rahilly; A O'Connell, N Broderick, C McCarthy; M O'Connell, A Galvin; A Dillane, N Ní Chonchúir, L Boyle; R Dwyer, S O'Shea, D O'Leary. Subs: C Evans, N Carmody and K Cronin for McCarthy, Broderick and Boyle (all half-time), J Lucey for Dwyer (45), K Sugrue for Dillane (57), K Brosnan for Ní Chonchúir (57), F O’Donoghue for Rahilly (59).

MAYO: J Gawalkiewicz; L Wallace, N O'Malley, C Durkan; D Caldwell, J Mortimer, S Lally; E Murray, H Reape; C Whyte, C Keane, R Jordan; K Doherty, B Hession, M Cannon. Subs: A Gough for Cannon (43), C Doherty for Whyte (43), E Brennan for Durkan (56), S El Massry for Murray (56), S Delaney for Keane (60+1).

Referee: Gus Chapman (Sligo).

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