Senior footballers defeat Mayo to progress into All-Ireland Semi-Final

DUBLIN 2-17 

MAYO 0-11 

A dominant third-quarter display proved pivotal as Dublin eased past a lethargic Mayo by twelve points in their All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final at a blustery Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.

The Dubs were perhaps fortunate to lead by a point at half-time but assumed complete control in the early stages of the second-half with three points in succession preceding a vital second goal through the influential Colm Basquel.

Mayo had no reply to this setback, showing visible signs of fatigue given their heavy workload over the past few weeks, as Dublin repelled some sporadic and increasingly desperate pressure with a fair degree of comfort.

The anticipated ‘chaos’ that Mayo were expected to bring to proceedings never materialised in a cagey and tense opening period that saw Ryan O’Donoghue and Tommy Conroy cause problems for the Dublin defence with Aidan O’Shea securing a generous amount of possession.

A couple of errant Dublin shots was not ideal in terms of settling into the game as O’Donoghue opened the scoring with the simplest of frees in the 1^st minute.

Cormac Costello looked sharp from the outset and levelled matters in the 6^th minute from an Eoin Murchan sortie up the field with O’Donoghue and Basquel trading points as the half evolved.

Costello edged Dublin in front with O’Donoghue restoring parity from another free spotted from deep by referee David Gough before Conroy placed Mayo back in front at the end of the first quarter.

Dublin were in need of some inspiration at this point and it duly arrived in the 18^th minute as a lengthy delivery from David Byrne was seized upon by Basquel, who withstood Pádraig O’Hora before low past the exposed Colm Reape.

Mayo’s response to this setback was admirable, kicking the next three points through O’Donoghue, Conroy and O’Shea and O’Donoghue added another score to leave two points between the teams by the 25^th minute.

Significantly, that proved their final score of the half as Dublin approached the break in a more energetic manner, with Costello converting two frees in quick succession to restore parity.

A second goal could have arrived but for Niall Scully palming off the butt of the post but James McCarthy popped over the rebound to leave Dublin 1-6 to 0-8 clear at half-time. 

Dublin’s momentum was maintained upon the restart as they blitzed their opponents through early points from Paul Mannion, Basquel and Brain Fenton before the game’s pivotal moment arrived in the 41^st minute.

An innocuous looking ball seemed to favour the Mayo defence but Paul Mannion outsmarted Sam Callinan and Costello took the correct option in feeding Basquel for the simplest of finishes to the net.

Mannion added his second point as Mayo’s challenge began to unravel despite them finally ending a scoreless period of twenty-four minute through an excellent Paddy Durcan score.

An Eoghan McLaughlin miss at the end of the third quarter, hitting the post with the goal gaping, may have offered Mayo a chance at redemption but it represented their lack of sharpness as Dublin made some significant changes from the bench.

Ciaran Kilkenny, Paddy Small and Dean Rock all entered the fray to telling effect, kicking a point apiece as Dublin availed of the increasingly generous space afforded to them with Con O’Callaghan kicking two smart scores to put further daylight between the teams.

The damage was long done by this stage as Dublin progressed to a last four encounter with Monaghan, with Mayo left ruing their loss to Cork that sent them on a more arduous route to the quarter-finals.

Scorers – Dublin: C Basquel 2-2, C Costello 0-5 (3f), P Mannion, C O’Callaghan, J McCarthy 0-2 apiece, B Fenton, P Small, D Rock, C Kilkenny 0-1 each. Mayo: R O’Donoghue 0-5 (2f), T Conroy 0-2, C Reape (‘45’), A O’Shea (f), P Durcan, J Flynn 0-1 apiece.

Dublin: S Cluxton; E Murchan, M Fitzsimons, D Byrne; B Howard, J Small, L Gannon; B Fenton, J McCarthy; N Scully, S Bugler, C Costello; P Mannion, C O’Callaghan, C Basquel. Subs: J McCaffrey for Murchan (46), C Kilkenny for Bugler (48), P Small for Scully (54), T Lahiff for Costello (67), D Rock for Basquel (71).

Mayo: C Reape; P O’Hora, D McBrien, J Coyne; P Durcan, S Coen, S Callinan; M Ruane, D O’Connor; E McLaughlin, J Carney, J Flynn; A O’Shea, T Conroy, R O’Donoghue. Subs: E Hession for O’Hora (32), C O’Connor for O’Shea (47), K McLoughlin for McLaughlin (53), J Carr for Ruane (58), J Doherty for Callinan (70).

Referee: David Gough (Meath).