Kildare the masters as Mayo run ragged in Christy Ring final

Kildare swept to a resounding victory over Mayo to lift the Christy Ring Cup for the third time, a polished performance laced with power and style setting them apart in dominant style.

Mayo, having stepped up after winning the Nickey Rackard Cup last year, found this punishing experience a step too far, and never threatened to cause an upset.

The Lilywhites produced some sparkling passages of play and picked off sublime scores, with James Burke's ten points haul bettered by eleven from play from the rampant Gerry Keegan.

First half goals from Cathal Dowling and Shane Ryan meant the outcome was virtually decided by the interval, and despite a brave second half showing from the westerners, the Leinster men kept the momentum going.

Mayo got off to a promising start, cancelling out scores from Gerry Keegan and James Burke with points off the sticks of Shane Boland and Eoin Delaney.

But it all started to go wrong for the Connacht men when Cathal Dowling got in for a ninth minute goal, despite a heroic double save from Bobby Douglas.

The Mayo 'keeper kept out his initial effort, and also blocked Shane Ryan's shot on the rebound, but Dowling grabbed possession again to rifle the ball to the net.

Boland stemmed the flow with a couple of scores, one a brilliant long range effort, but with Paul Divilly and Rian Boran holding the Lilywhite defence together, avenues were closed off, and the movement of their attacking unit caused all sorts of problems for the westerners.

Burke was unerring from placed balls, sending one booming between the uprights from all of 100 metres, with Shane Ryan also keeping the score-board rolling.

Mayo were restricted to sporadic attacks, with Boland their man source of scores as he sent over a couple of frees,