{"id":570173,"date":"2026-07-27T09:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/570173\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T09:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:48:09","slug":"brilliant-mayo-banish-years-of-heartbreak-to-at-last-clinch-sam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/570173\/","title":{"rendered":"Brilliant Mayo banish years of heartbreak to at last clinch Sam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seventy-five years of pain have been balmed. Mayo<\/a> are All-Ireland senior football champions. You better believe it.<\/p>\n

Triumph didn\u2019t come without drama. History seemed to be tugging them back at the close when a five-point advantage was narrowed to two and David Clifford and Se\u00e1n O\u2019Shea twice had chances to level it.<\/p>\n

But both chances were missed and Tommy Conroy put the game well and truly out of a hiccupping Kerry\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n

Mayo were brilliant. To beat the baggage, even to beat an out-of-sorts Kerry<\/a> team, they had to be. Their energy was electric and whole throughout their team. Ryan O\u2019Donoghue was a living dynamo.<\/p>\n

Soon after a Gavin White pass intended for Graham O\u2019Sullivan, Mayo struck their 40th minute goal, Kerry\u2019s first concession since the opening round of the All-Ireland SFC against Donegal.<\/p>\n

Darragh Beirne\u2019s finish was cultivated by the irresistible O\u2019Donoghue\u2019s driving run. After a Keith Evans point, Jack Carney pumped over a second two-pointer and Mayo were five to the good.<\/p>\n

They could have been out of sight but for a series of wides, several from two-point range. In the meantime, Kerry ate into their deficit and twice brought it back to a single point.<\/p>\n

Another Mayo\u2019s purple patch of four points came between the 58th and 62nd minutes including O\u2019Donoghue\u2019s second two-pointer. And still it didn\u2019t feel enough. Not for Mayo and their weight. David Clifford converted Kerry\u2019s only two-pointer and Paudie Clifford put over his third single score. But prevailed Mayo did.<\/p>\n

Jack O\u2019Connor broke the habit of a lifetime in making late change as much as it was enforced. Diarmuid O\u2019Connor was removed from the panel, Cillian Trant was called up from the auxiliary list and O\u2019Connor\u2019s starting berth given to Tom O\u2019Sullivan.<\/p>\n

A Mayo change was anticipated \u2013 Paul Towey for Conor Loftus as was the case for their quarter-final and semi-final wins \u2013 but not two. Stephen Coen was also forced out with injury and Diarmuid O\u2019Connor came into the team and John McMonagle into the 26.<\/p>\n

For the first 16 minutes, Mayo mustered just one point in which time they fell seven behind. Kerry didn\u2019t score a two-pointer despite the benefit of the wind but still had 1-5 on the board.<\/p>\n

Kerry were enjoying how much time Jack Livingstone was taking with his kick-outs. They were also happy to break the ball in front of them where Mayo weren\u2019t committing enough bodies.<\/p>\n

\"MayoMayo supporters celebrate their side’s first goal. Pic:\u00a0<\/p>\n

David Clifford had two points to his name inside the first six minutes after Se\u00e1n O\u2019Brien had earlier trailed a goal attempt wide in the fifth minute. But after O\u2019Shea opened his account, he found Clifford who made a backdoor cut, moved away from Livingstone and found the net.<\/p>\n

Another O\u2019Shea point stretched the difference to seven before Carney began the recovery with a two-pointer. Mayo kicked five short in the first half but the work ethic of their attack without the ball was immense and gave them a platform.<\/p>\n

After O\u2019Shea\u2019s total jumped to three with a fisted score when David Clifford squared the ball to him, O\u2019Donoghue raised another orange flag. Following that were Darragh Beirne and O\u2019Donoghue frees as Mayo\u2019s inside backs came under pressure. Sam Callinan broke through to make it a one-point game in the 30th minute.<\/p>\n

After hitting two wides, Tom O\u2019Sullivan made it third time lucky seconds later to end Mayo\u2019s run of five points without response. Another foul on O\u2019Donoghue was punished by Beirne before HawkEye confirmed Tommy Conroy\u2019s effort was good and true.<\/p>\n

As David Clifford fell the effects of a O\u2019Donoghue challenge, Joe O\u2019Connor burrowed his way through to slot over the score that separated the teams at the break.<\/p>\n

\n Scorers for Mayo: D. Beirne (1-3, 2 frees); R. O\u2019Donoghue (0-5, 2 tps, 1 free); J. Carney (0-4, 2 tps); K. McDonald (0-3, 1 45); T. Conroy (0-2); D. McBrien, S. Callinan, J. Flynn (0-1 each).<\/p>\n

\n Scorers for Kerry: D. Clifford (1-6, 1 tp); S. O\u2019Shea, P. Clifford (1 45) (0-3 each); D. Casey, T. O\u2019Sullivan, J. O\u2019Connor, K. Evans, G. O\u2019Sullivan (0-1 each).<\/p>\n

\n MAYO: J. Livingstone; J. Coyne (c), E. McGreal, D. McHugh; S. Callinan, E. Hession, D. McBrien; B. Tuohy, J. Carney; D. O\u2019Connor, J. Flynn, P. Towey; D. Beirne, D. Beirne, R. O\u2019Donoghue, K. McDonald.<\/p>\n

Subs for Mayo: T. Conroy for P. Towey (25); M. Ruane for B. Tuohy, R. Brickenden for E. McGreal (both 53); C. Loftus for D. O\u2019Connor (58); P. Durcan for S. Callinan (65).<\/p>\n

\n KERRY: S. Murphy; D. Casey, J. Foley, P. Murphy; T. O\u2019Sullivan, M. Breen, G. White; M. O\u2019Shea, S. O\u2019Brien; J. O\u2019Connor, S. O\u2019Shea, G. O\u2019Sullivan; D. Clifford (c), P. Clifford, D. Geaney.<\/p>\n

Subs for Kerry: E. Looney for D. Casey (temp, 29-ht); K. Evans for T. O\u2019Sullivan (h-t); T. Kennedy for D. Geaney (52); B. \u00d3 Beaglaoich for G. White (59); E. Looney for P. Murphy (61); M. Burns for S. O\u2019Brien (63).<\/p>\n

\n Referee: M. McNally (Monaghan)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seventy-five years of pain have been balmed. Mayo are All-Ireland senior football champions. You better believe it. Triumph…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[217463,177329,5658,6937,61,60,4185,43],"class_list":["post-570173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-all-ireland-football-final","tag-championship-2026","tag-irish-examiner-instagram","tag-kerry-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mayo-gaa","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}