Games against Mayo will bring us on: Paddy Andrews

Dublin forward, Paddy Andrews, is hoping the benefit of two tough games against Mayo will stand Jim Gavin’s men in good stead as they prepare for the All-Ireland SFC final on 20 September against Kerry.

"The big thing earlier on in the year was that we weren’t tested enough but these two games will bring us on,” said the St Brigid’s clubman who scored 0-5 from play in a tour de force against Mayo last Saturday.

"You could see the improvement from the drawn game. It’s an All-Ireland semi-final and you have to be at your best. You’re playing the top teams in the country.

"In the last 15 minutes, you had to say the team effort was very good and the lads who came off the bench really dragged us over the line.

“We were disappointed with the final ten minutes last week as we felt we had done enough to win the game.

“In the last six days, the focus from everybody was that we would play for the 75 or 76 minutes.

"As for myself, I was very glad to get on the end of a few things. It was great when they went over."

His team-mate, Philly McMahon, another of Dublin’s heroes last Saturday said Dublin "learned from their mistakes".

“We showed great resolve. We knew the second battle was going to be as tough as the first one and it’s great to come out the right end to it.

"We need to play for the entire game. We learned from our mistakes (of last week) and that’s the big learning curve going into the All-Ireland final.

“Any time you play in an All-Ireland semi-final it’s tough, but to play two of them... I suppose it will stand to us going into the final.”