Kerry switched on the afterburners to inflict a heavy 2-29 to 0-19 defeat on Mayo at Austin Stack Park.

This evening's landslide victory sees the Kingdom leapfrog their vanquished opponents on the Division One table with one round of fixtures remaining and move into pole position to book another final date.

A couple of second-half goals from the outstanding Dylan Geaney and a succession of two-pointers from twin terrors David Clifford and Seanie O’Shea helped the rampant holders take complete control of proceedings after the restart, blazing 19 points ahead before Fergal Boland and Ryan O’Donoghue replied with 63rd- and 64th-minute two-pointers into the wind in this ultimately one-sided encounter.

The losers led by 0-9 to 0-4 at the end of the opening quarter but a run of eight unanswered scores inside a tide-turning 15-minute blitz was instrumental in Jack O’Connor’s charges going in at the break with a 0-13 to 0-10 half-time lead despite having played into the teeth of a strong wind. Parachuted into the Mayo starting XV, Kobe McDonald fisted a first-half point and had a couple of goal efforts blocked.

The first six points were shared but Jack Carney’s two-pointer – following an earlier one from Jordan Flynn – propelled the visitors into a 0-7 to 0-3 lead after twelve minutes. Ryan O’Donoghue’s massive wind-assisted two-pointer was bookended by a brace of Clifford scores and O’Shea’s quickfire double had the margin back to two by the 21st minute: 0-9 to 0-7.

Sean O’Brien fisted the fourth successive Kingdom score and Geaney – who’d opened the scoring – was on hand with the hosts’ fifth in a row to make it nine apiece with ten minutes left in a compelling first half. Now with the bit between their teeth, the holders surged two ahead with further scores from Keith Evans and Clifford.

Graham O’Sullivan became the fifth Kerry forward to score, with their eighth on the bounce. Sam Callinan registered Mayo’s first score in 16 minutes but it was cancelled out by Geaney as the All-Ireland champions turned around leading by three.

The second half was a procession and the insatiable home team won pulling up.

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