Preview: Dublin and Mayo Clash for Quarter-Final Spot in All-Ireland Championship

By Conor Martin

Dublin and Mayo battle it out for a place in the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and the right to be Group 2 winners at Dr Hyde Park on Sunday.

After winning our 14th Leinster title in a row last month, Dessie Farrell's side have started their defence of the Sam Maguire Cup in fine style with wins over Roscommon and Cavan. 

The Dubs were made to work for the points, as Roscommon matched Dublin pretty much point for point until we finally broke away thanks to goals from Colm Basquel and Con O’Callaghan and by full-time there were 11 different Dublin names on the scoresheet. 

We stepped things up a notch last time out, when we headed to Kingspan Breffni and put five goals past Cavan. Cormac Costello bagged himself a brace, while Seán Bugler, Paddy Small and Killian McGinnis were the trio also getting in on the green flag action.

Since losing the Connacht Championship final back in May. Mayo, have also won their first two games of the All-Ireland series and after two solid showings, they’ll be confident of pipping Dublin to the top spot and winning Group 2.

Ryan O'Donoghue was the brightest spark in that win against Cavan, as he picked up an impressive seven points and he was in good company up front as the reliable Cillian O’Connor was key to Mayo’s win.

O’Donoghue proved that his performance in the championship opener wasn’t a one-off, as he scored 1-4 against their Connacht counterparts, Roscommon. Donnacha McHugh was the other goalscorer for the men in green and red as they held off a late Roscommon resurgence to win by just two points.

As mentioned, the winners of this Sunday’s clash will advance into the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, but unlike Mayo, Dublin will advance into the last eight with a draw due to the Boys in Blue having a significantly higher points difference. However, the loser of Sunday’s game will be playing in the preliminary quarter-final.

Dublin have had the better of Mayo on several occasions in Championship settings in recent years, including a couple of All-Ireland final triumphs. Here’s hoping Farrell’s Dublin can continue our impressive record against Mayo this weekend!

You can buy tickets for this weekend’s game here:

Not making the road trip to Roscommon this weekend? No problem! You can catch the game live on RTÉ 2 at 3:45pm.

Dublin v Mayo recent All-Ireland Senior Football Championship meetings:

2nd July 2023, Croke Park, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final, Dublin 2-17 (23) - 0-11 (11) Mayo

14th August 2021, Croke Park, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Semi-Final, Mayo 0-17 (17) - 0-14 (14) Dublin

19th December 2020, Croke Park, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, Dublin 2-14 (20) - 0-15 (15) Mayo

10th August 2019, Croke Park, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Semi-Final, Mayo 1-10 (13) - Dublin 3-14 (23) Dublin

17th September 2017, Croke Park, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, Mayo 1-16 (19) - 1-17 (20) Dublin