The clinical full forward line of Mayo helped upset the hosts in Killarney as Kerry fell by five points in Group 1 of the AISFC.

Mayo kicked a massive 1-19 total on the day in a packed Fitzgerald Stadium and the Kerry defence struggled to deal with the running that originated from midfield dominance.

Both of these teams now face Louth and Cork in Group 1 however Mayo will be extremely confident of topping the group and after this performance over the reigning champions.

Mayo had the first big chance of the match forcing Shane Ryan into a save. A mark that was played short ended up with Diarmuid O’Connor who shot low but Ryan did well to save with his leg.

The first white flag came off another potential goal chance but Mayo took a deserved lead for their early dominance from the boot of Ryan O’Donoghue.

The game was played at ferocious pace with the teams trading scores multiple times in the opening quarter, O’Shea picked up two whilst Geaney, O’Sullivan and Clifford kept the Kerry board ticking upwards.

Four different point scorers in the following ten minutes helped Mayo pull out a comfortable four point lead over their hosts who they were beginning to frustrate.

The fourth of which from Aiden O’Shea seemed to spark the game into life again, with Sean O’Shea going up the other end and converting Kerry's first in 13 minutes, but a turnover off the kickout left David Clifford with an easy score to narrow the lead to two.

James Carr and Dara Moynihan exchanged scores in the following two minutes totalling five white flags in the last five minutes.

David Clifford brought it to a one point game but with five to go in the half Mayo stepped up to another gear, four points in the final few minutes of the half left them with a five point cushion at the interval. Their full forward line with just the ten of twelve scores in the opening period in what was a real clinic of attacking football.

Kerry brought on Paul Murphy and Adrian Spillane at the start of the second half to try to flip the momentum and get back into this.

The scoring did not slow down as Clifford and Ruane traded the first scores of the second period inside the opening three minutes.

Colm Reape produced a great save off a David Clifford effort that would’ve brought the Kingdom right back into this game, with both keepers now being credited with keeping the goals section of the board at zeros.

Reape and Ryan both produced excellent stops to prevent another two goal chances for either side as Mayo maintained a four point lead with twenty minutes to go.

With fifteen minutes on the clock it was down to just a kick of a ball with Mayo up by three but Kerry having picked up four of the last six scores with sublime kicking from Clifford keeping the Kingdom in this tie.

The killer blow came with ten minutes to go, having been on the pitch only five minutes Eoghan McLaughlin picked up the ball and finally raised a green flag in this game burying past Ryan giving Mayo a six point lead.

David Clifford did his best to keep his side in this game with two points to bring it back to a four point deficit.

Moments later Mayo showed their quality as they have been throughout with Durcan and Ruane stretching the advantage back to six.

Sean O’Shea and Tom Sullivan did reduce it back to four once more but Mayo were comfortable in seeing it out and taking a massive victory to open this new format of the senior football championship.

Jordan Flynn picked up the final score of the game to seal the five point victory and become the final of the six Mayo forwards to etch his name on the scoresheet in what was a real masterclass in attacking football from the Connacht side.