Kildare 2-8 Mayo 2-14:THE DARK clouds that drifted over St Conleth's Park as this tie drew to a close were matched by Kieran McGeeney's stern visage as he left the Kildare dressing-room yesterday.
Relegation is a distinct possibility for his side, and while the new boss isn't really concerned about that, he is worried that his charges followed up a pathetic display in Derry with such a clueless second-half effort.
The scoreline confirms a comfortable victory for the visitors in Newbridge, but in truth it was even easier for Mayo than it looks.
And that despite falling six points behind by the eighth minute, a deficit they managed to transform to an equivalent lead by the interval courtesy of an alarming fade-out around the middle third by Kildare.
Once Ronan McGarrity and Tom Parsons got on top and Keith Higgins moved to corner-back to take up the marking duties on John Doyle, the bottom fell out of the Lilywhite challenge.
McGeeney adopted to scrap the two-man inside line and it looked a wise decision as Kildare stormed into a 1-3 to 0-0 lead, with John Doyle, James Kavanagh and Tadhg Fennin causing problems.
Kavanagh had two points on the board and Doyle a free when Fennin collected possession out towards the sideline. The diminutive attacker spotted the run of Doyle and found him with a wonderful cross-field pass.
Doyle managed to gather possession at the second attempt to place the ball sumptuously over the advancing David Clarke and Mayo looked in disarray.
Much to John O'Mahony's satisfaction, though, the response was immediate. Alan Dillon profited from some dissent by a defender to slot a ninth-minute free that finally got them off the mark.
Conor Mortimer followed up with a wonderful point and Tom Cunniffe, now operating in the half-back line having not enjoyed the best of openings on Doyle, burst forward with another fine score to introduce some doubt in the minds of the home players.
Sensing the vulnerability, Mayo rammed home their advantage, scoring two goals and four points in the final 11 minutes of the half.
Parsons started the onslaught by unleashing a piledriver to the roof of the net having had his untracked run picked out by the impressive Austin O'Malley.
A brace from Mortimer, either side of an Andy Moran score, pushed Mayo clear, and when Moran calmly side-footed beyond Thomas Corley, having climbed imperiously above Morgan Flaherty, it was 2-9 to 1-6 and those opening eight minutes were a dim, distant memory.
The second half was the dampest of squibs as Kildare gave absolutely no indication of making things uncomfortable for Mayo.
MAYO: D Clarke; T Cunniffe 0-1, K Conroy, C Boyle; D Heaney, T Howley, K Higgins; R McGarrity 0-1, T Parsons 1-0; J Gill, A Dillon 0-2 (fs), T Mortimer; C Mortimer 0-6 (four frees), A O'Malley 0-3, A Moran 1-1. Sub: P Harte for T Mortimer (inj, (20 mins); M Ronaldson for C Mortimer (68 mins); B Moran for Dillon (70 mins).
KILDARE: T Corley; E Bolton, A Mac Lochlainn, M O'Flaherty; E Callaghan, A Rainbow, B Flanagan; R Sweeney, D Earley; M Hartnett, K Donnelly 0-1, M Conway; J Doyle 2-3 (1-0 pen, one free), J Kavanagh 0-2, T Fennin 0-2 (one free). Subs: G White for Donnelly (48 mins), A Smith for Hartnett, D Flynn for Sweeney (51 mins); A Barry for Hartnett (57 mins); D Hendy for White (66)
Referee: P McEnaney (Monaghan).
