It wasn't a classic game of football, but finals are all about winning and Kerry were without doubt the better team yesterday. They had more pace around the field and a higher skill factor. Overall, there was a noticeable gap in class. The surprising thing about Mayo was that they were supposed to be a better side than last year but in fact I thought they were inferior this year. They can have no complaints about the result, they just didn't play. They'll be devastated with the result, and with the way they played, and there's bound to be a lot of soul-searching among them now. A lot of the problem was that Kerry were so quick to the ball. They had a lot of speed and were getting to most of the breaks first. They had power as well as speed and were able to break out into open space repeatedly. Mayo were second to the breakdown far too often.
Kerry settled very quickly, got into their stride and had three early points on the scoreboard. Mayo had some very good defensive performances from the likes of Fergal Costello and Kenneth Mortimer, so scores weren't easy to come by for Kerry. But the shining light where scores were concerned throughout the game was, of course, Maurice Fitzgerald. He was the class act on the field.
Nine points, three from play, and some brilliant frees. It's doubtful they'd have won it without him. In terms of scoring, he carried the Kerry attack. Every time he got possession it looked like he was going to register a score. It has to be one of the great individual performances in an All-Ireland final.
As a two-footed kicker, you'd have to put him up there with the great Mike Sheehy. His free kick from the sideline with his left foot in the first half was sheer class. I don't know of another player in the country who would have even attempted it.
He was the main difference between the teams. Mayo were totally bereft of ideas in attack. Some of their shooting was very poor. They created no clear-cut openings and had little or no penetration. They carried the ball too much and ended up in cul de sacs or running into a stone wall of Kerry defenders. Mayo's short-passing and over-carrying of the ball enabled Kerry to get bodies behind the ball and defend in numbers. They had a chance, though, when they were awarded what seemed to me to be a dubious penalty. Kieran McDonald took it well and James Horan then kicked two great points. Kerry were rattled by now, they got some scoring chances but missed them.
The game was in the balance at this stage but Mayo failed to capitalise on it. They lost their momentum by falling back into their old habits. There was no Plan B with them, it was all direct running at the Kerry defence. There was very little wide play to their game, which might have got them some openings. Instead, they insisted on going down the middle time and time again and came unstuck.
Kerry played the ball more directly from midfield, and they played it into space in front of their forwards, which suited them. But it wasn't one of the better days for the Kerry attack as a unit either. They worked very hard but didn't do much damage on the scoreboard bar Maurice, and Pa Laide, who got two points from play.
One area where Mayo were expected to do well was midfield, but Kerry got to grips with it from early on and that was a key factor. If they weren't actually catching the ball, they were very quick on to the breaks and played the ball on intelligently. Dara O Se had a fine game and was very well supported by William Kirby. I was surprised to see Kirby being taken off. I thought he was playing very well. He marked Liam McHale for numerous kick-outs and spoiled McHale, who would have had a height advantage for gaining possession. Kirby did very well in that respect.
McHale was unlucky. You need to get an early touch of the ball in an All-Ireland final but the delivery from out the field was poor and McHale received very little ball that favoured him. Full credit for that must go to the Kerry half-forward line, Denis O'Dwyer and Laide in particular, and the two midfielders, for harrying and hassling the kicker. So there was no real quality ball going through to McHale while he was at full forward. He was a bit more influential at midfield but still well behind last year's performances.
Pat Fallon played his heart out for Mayo. He has come on in leaps and bounds as a midfielder this year. Unfortunately for him, he ran at the Kerry defence several times and while his runs always looked threatening, very little came off them in the end.
Dermot Flanagan's withdrawal after a couple of minutes was very disruptive to Mayo. They had to make something like five positional switches to rectify one problem. It must have upset pre-match plans. A direct swap with a substitute defender would have caused much less upheaval.
The Kerry half-backs held their line very well. Liam Flaherty had a storming game, especially in his commitment to the loose ball, and with his man, Colm McManamon, roaming downfield most of the time he had a free rein to mop up a lot of loose ball and use it well.
Eamonn Breen also broke on to a lot of ball and had the power to come out with it. The rest of the defenders all did their jobs in a quiet kind of a way. Nothing outstanding, but they were generally in control. There were times in the second half when Kerry opened up the Mayo defence and got through on goal, but the Mayo goalkeeper, Peter Burke, kept his team in the game with two brilliant saves. Perhaps those chances should have been fisted over the bar just to put the game safe. Mayo were always a threat so long as there was a margin of just two points between them.
Yesterday's victory is, I think, the start of a new and successful era in Kerry football. The foundations have been well laid in recent years with the success of the minors and under-21s. The conveyor belt of players is starting to come through and I think Kerry will be there or thereabouts over the next few years. (In an interview with Tomas Conlon)
