A rare Kerry win at Croke Park in recent times here, and a first national senior title for David Clifford at GAA Headquarters.
Two statements that just don’t sound right.
A record 23rd League title, claimed at Croke Park, will have helped to ease the pain of ever-expectant Kerry folk.
Remarkably it was also Kerry’s first Croke Park triumph over Mayo in six games, stretching back to the 2011 All-Ireland semi-final.
Two of those were draws, with three defeats across League and Championship.
This 15 point victory helped to put another unwanted run of just one Croke Park victory in their last 11 games - the 2019 All-Ireland semi-final win over Tyrone - to bed.
That record stretched back to the 2017 National League final victory over Dublin when Dean Rock hit a post late on with a 45 metre free that would have sent the game to extra-time.
In the mean-time, Kerry have posted four draws - Dublin (2), Donegal and Mayo, and six defeats - three of them in Championship replays.
Galway turned them over in the Super 8s in 2018 and Tyrone caught them last year in the All-Ireland semi-final.
Dublin trounced them in the 2018 National League group stages and the sides also drew in the 2020 League.
Jack O’Connor has only lost once across 11 games since he returned to the Kerry hotseat, and this was perhaps the best display to date of the lot of them.
If any team can cut loose and hammer you, it’s Kerry.
Today's 15-point winning margin equalled the record for a League final in modern times - Dublin’s victory over Derry at Croke Park in the 2014 decider. And Kerry were worth every point of it.
Rock-solid at the back they only gave up one half goal chance here.
Even that came after a Jack Carney shot rebounded off the post and Conor Loftus couldn’t quite get a hand on it.
Kerry looked well-organised at the back with the hard graft around the middle third allowing Tadhg Morley to drop off and afford cover to the full back line, where Jason Foley was particularly good.
Tom O’Sullivan tracked Mayo dangerman Ryan O’Donoghue and did a good job on him.
Gavin White was menace in the first half, raiding down the left wing and firing a 25th minute goal to five Kerry a 1-7 to 0-4 lead.
The Stephen Coen/Stephen O’Brien match-up wasn’t working out for Mayo, while Paudie Clifford pulled the strings brilliantly at number 11 on Rory Brickenden, a late call up for the injured Oisin Mullin.
Mayo sorely missed the hard running from half back of Mullin, Patrick Durcan and Eoghan O’Donoghue, while Diarmuid O’Connor was another big loss.
Kerry didn’t need to call on Sean O’Shea, who was on the bench, while O’Connor reported that Paul Murphy would be back in action soon.
The Kingdom’s kick passing game, off loading and running off the shoulder was a joy to watch at times.
They also did very well on the break ball around long kick outs, hoovering it up all day, with Dara Moynihan and Adrian Spillane doing exactly what they were picked to do.
The Kerry backs poured forward all afternoon - both White and Foley scoring goals - while David Clifford did what we have come to expect David Clifford to do.
He hit 1-5 from play, cutting loose in the second half as Mayo chased the game and Kerry turned them over time and time again, before hitting hard and fast on the counterattack.
It got painful to watch towards the end as Mayo ran out of ideas.
While the Kerry Diarmuid O’Connor was off the field on a black card, Kerry outscored Mayo 0-4 to 0-0 - not including the free awarded for O’Connor’s foul on Aidan O’Shea - despite being down to 14 men.
It was just a bad day at the office for Mayo.
You could say they had no luck, but hitting the post four times also suggests a lack of accuracy.
They were also blocked down twice as Kerry kept up their incredible record of conceding just two goals - across 11 games now - since O’Connor’s return.
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
