Mayo 2-13 Kildare 0-14

Mayo did a Mayo on it.

That’s the only way of explaining it. They were six points down, out of ideas and on the proverbial brink in the second half of this All-Ireland qualifier but, no more than half an hour later, when the referee blew his final whistle, they were five points up.

It was Mayo. Pure Mayo. Total and absolute Mayo.

So even if you didn’t watch the game, if you were cutting the lawn or out on the town – it doesn’t matter – because if you know anything about Mayo then you already know the story.

You hardly need us to tell you that this was Mayo at their wildest and their most chaotic. The second half was a scene of disorganised and dishevelled chaos as the teams, quite literally, went end-to-end and attack-for-attack and, naturally, with the game going down that sort of a route, Mayo came out on top. In those conditions, there was never going to be any other result.

“They’ve proven that they’re at their best in adversity and in chaos,” said Jim McGuinness on Sky Sports at the final whistle.

There’s no doubt about that.

There were five minutes gone in the second half when Kildare had their dander and a five point lead. Daniel Flynn looked like he was about to beat Mayo on his own while Ben McCormack was too hot to handle.

But then the influential Fergal Boland kicked a point before Cillian O’Connor and Conor Loftus did like-wise. The wagons were circling around Kildare and, on the line, Glenn Ryan looked worried – he’d seen this film before. Then Lee Keegan kicked his second of the day, a worldie off the left foot and suddenly the atmosphere in Croke Park had changed.

Mayo 2-13 Kildare 0-14.

Mayo made hard work of it, but we should know it by now that these boys are never, ever beaten 🟢🔴 pic.twitter.com/ffDSkFt1q3

— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) June 11, 2022

Glenn Ryan wasn’t the only one who’d seen this film before. All the while, Aaron O’Neill’s kick-outs were disintegrating at a rapid rate and although Jimmy Hyland restored their three point advantage with 16 minutes to play, 0-13 to 0-10 the score at this stage, they’d only score one more from here on in.

From here on in, it was all Mayo. Diarmuid O’Connor kicked a beautiful one before Oisin Mullin levelled it up with a well-taken goal. Then Boland kicked another and then, as if the game wasn’t wild enough, Jordan Flynn lobbed Aaron O’Neill from 35 yards out with the last kick.

Pure Mayo. Absolute Mayo.

Afterwards, a dejected Kevin Feely accepted the Sky Sports man-of-the-match award but Peter Canavan made a case for Mayo corner back Enda Hession. And what a case he had, having shown great bravery and defensive instincts to block a Daniel Flynn goal-attempt when Mayo were five down.

“To me, the turning point of the game was without a doubt a block that Enda Hession made,” said Canavan. At this stage, Kildare were five up and it was when Daniel Flynn got into a goalscoring position. Hession did what any good defender does by leaving his own man to get over into a position to make a block. It was brave, it was brilliant. Whenever Mayo needed him, he was inspirational today.”

Amen to that. They’re into the quarter finals now.

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