Beaten All-Ireland finalists Mayo took a long time to find their feet, but they put in a blistering closing 20 minutes to destroy Kilkenny in this lop-sided National Football League game at Nowlan Park yesterday.

Mayo were very much out of sorts during the opening half and Kilkenny shocked the winners when Brian Leahy grabbed a goal two minutes after half-time to drag them back into the match. During the opening five minutes of the half, Kilkenny really threatened, and at one stage, when the difference stood at two points, they missed three chances to score. Suddenly, in the 38th minute, Mayo's Colm McManamon pointed and within seconds, James Horan hammered home a goal to set the westerners on a frightening scoring spree.