Goals win games and Dublin have the scoring habit
Dean Rock finds the net after just 12 seconds of the 2020 All-Ireland final. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Goals didn’t always win matches in the Dublin-Mayo rivalry of the last 12 years. But they still made their presence felt. If the concession of one wasn’t necessarily fatal, that’s not to say they didn’t have a harming effect. Goals provided moments of madness and frustration and exhilaration and even hilarity. They usually favoured Dublin who had the better talent for scoring them, and still do.
Of the 11 championship meetings, beginning in 2012, just two were won by Mayo, with two more ending in draws. In those 11 matches there were 24 goals scored. Dublin claimed 18 of them. In none of the meetings did Dublin score fewer goals than Mayo. The only two goalless games were the two Mayo managed to win.
