A David Clifford last minute point winner cemented a Kerry win as Mayo just fall short in Austin Stack Park.

Going into this game Mayo we’re already pronounced the loosing side before the team bus even parked up in Tralee but a somewhat decent performance put up against last years All Ireland finalists.

Mayo’s Fergal Boland opened the score line between the pair quickly followed by Kerry’s David Clifford.

One of the main objectives for any team before they play Kerry, keep David Clifford at bay from the back of your goal, Keeper Colm Reape being kept well alert to keep the Fossa man at bay with a denied goal chance only nine minutes into the first half.

The first half saw Kerry doing well on Mayo’s kickouts with Colm Reape being unable several times to find a Mayo man.

Both Shane Ryan and Colm Reape got comfortable outside their box’s with Shane Ryan getting lucky with a Ryan O’Donoghue safe point in an open goal chance.

An obvious reoccurring problem with the Mayo attack, no support when a player has the ball, Sam Callinan crying out for help whilst surround by three Kerry players, this first came alight against Dublin two weeks ago and is a clear problem that needs to be addressed.

The first half ended Kerry leading by two and it was all to play for in the second half.

Dylan Geaney opened the second half with Kerry’s first point which was quickly answered by Fergal Boland.

Shane Ryan managed to get the ball up to play for his side, nearly making his way to the half way line without a tackle from any Mayo man.

Colm Reape denied Clifford another goal chance whilst Mayo were yearning for one of their own.

Sam Callinan saw a questionable second yellow leaving McStay down to fourteen men.

As we all know the last few seconds of any game can be excruciating, the magic that is David Clifford taking away the draw from Mayo hands, it wouldn’t have been anyone else.

Finishing Kerry 0:16 Mayo 0:15, I wasn’t going into this game thinking we would be victorious but I’m happy we didn’t get embarrassed like many media outlets had predicted.

WE WANT THE MAIN PRIZE

Speaking with Mayo fans, many are siding with the situation to take the league steady and not put all our focus towards it.

Come June we don’t want to make the same mistakes we did last year loosing to lower league teams and a win tonight in Tralee wasn’t on the cards for Mayo.

A lot of lessons to learn from tonight’s game but we know our focus and all we can do is work towards it and prepare for our meeting with Tyrone next week.