Mayo beaten by Clifford's last kick

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE ROUND 3

Kerry 0-16

Mayo 0-15

Tralee

David Clifford's last-second point proved to be the difference as Kerry sneaked past Mayo in a throbbing Austin Stack Park on Saturday evening. The Fossa man sent the ball arrowing between the sticks after 72 minutes and 50 seconds of an entertaining encounter and the final whistle sounded just moments later.

It was tough luck on a Mayo side that did a lot of things right in the second half in front of a packed house, but the home side edged it when Clifford got the ball in his hands with time almost up.

Mayo had shown great resilience going down the home straight, coming from three points down, 0-15 to 0-12, despite playing with a man less for the final 14 minutes after Sam Callinan was dismissed for a booking and a black card with the game in the melting pot.

There had been little between them all evening, but Mayo were only in front for 42 seconds of the entirety and that statistic hints that the home side may have deserved the narrow victory. The hosts were much the better team in the first half when Mayo lost possession on an all-too-regular basis.

The guests were much improved in the second half and were within a kick of a ball of winning it as the clock ticked into the red.

The match had started explosively with Fergal Boland punching the ball over the bar after just 19 seconds and David Clifford responding at the other end just 42 beats later.

Paudie Clifford then got in on the act with two points of his own before the fifth minute as Kerry seemed to find pockets of space in attack, however, as the half progressed the area in front of the Mayo goal became more congested than an Emergency Department in flu-season.

Mayo weren't attacking as often as Kerry but the western side were more efficent with Sam Callinan popping over a fine point from the right as Kerry kicked six wides at the other end in the first 24 minutes.

At that stage, the score stood at 0-4 to 0-3 in favour of Kerry as Mayo turned over possession time after time and Kerry kicked more than their share of wides. That aspect of the contest continued all the way to half time before a Jason Foley point pushed the home boys two clear, 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval.

The second half was an end-to-end affair with good scores, great scores, mistakes and huge effort decorating the impressive setting. Paudie Clifford kicked a few beauties, his brother wasn't bad either while Boland, Ryan O'Donoghue and Jordan Flynn were among the guests to kick classy scores at the other end.

Callinan was dismissed rather harshly after 59 minutes and the following 14 minutes of play showed the resilience and drive of Kevin McStay's outfit.

When David Clifford kicked Kerry three clear, 0-15 to 0-12, after 64 minutes it seemed done and dusted but the Connacht men refused to die and responded with classy points from play from O'Donoghue and Boland before the former balanced the scores in the last minute of normal time.

Mayo had a chance to win it a minute later when a 16-pass move ended with Rory Brickenden slicing a mark just wide from a tough angle out on the right.

That left Kerry with one last chance to win it and when the ball arrived in the hands of David Clifford the writing was on the wall.