Dublin and Mayo play out a scintillating draw as Dessie Farrell’s side go straight to quarters

All-Ireland SFC Group 2 Round 3: Dublin 0-17 Mayo 0-17

This is how it should be. End to end, score for score, the blood up everywhere you look. Mayo and Dublin scratched and clawed at each other all the way home and when they got there, there was nothing to choose between them. The maths of the Group Two table mean that Dublin won the draw, sending them straight to the quarter-final.

For Mayo, it’s one of those where you don’t rightly know whether to congratulate or commiserate. They went toe-to-toe with the best team in the country and got themselves into a winning position with 24 seconds to go. That they didn’t see it out will gnaw at them. That they were there at all will surely light a fire under their followers.

“Not really,” was Kevin McStay’s reply when asked afterwards if he had mixed emotions. “The draw gets us nowhere. We went for the win. I hope it looked to everybody that we were trying to win it and we gave it a great shot. My big emotion is how proud I am in the group that we stayed to our own business the last few months, worked hard to get ourselves into a position to take on the champions and a point up with a minute to go, we were so close to it.”

In the end though, Dublin made good their escape. After Ryan O’Donoghue kicked a free to send Mayo a point up in the 73rd minute, Stephen Cluxton stood over the kick-out with all his players covered. There was nothing for it but to kick long and see what his middle third had for him. Out of the skies, Ciarán Kilkenny took a monumental catch in a forest of players and the Dubs were away.

With Mayo doing their level best not to foul, Jack McCaffrey found Cormac Costello left of the goal. He had a millisecond to fist a point through a window the size of a keyhole. He found it despite a slip and fall, capping off a terrific display. It meant Dublin topped the table on points difference.

We all breathed out, gasping at the joy of a rattling good game. In the pantheon of Dublin v Mayo clashes, this one will hold its own. Mayo weren’t a bit cowed by the arrival of the All-Ireland champions west of the Shannon – they played against the strong wind and into the sea of blue at the scoreboard end in the first half and dealt capably with both. When the heat came on after the break, they were comfortable there too.

For the Dubs, it was a clarifying afternoon. They’ve munched their way through the championship so far on largely empty calories. This was a far more substantial meal. The few times in either half they threatened to open up clear water, a Mayo wave rose up to stop them. Whatever Dessie Farrell’s side turn out to be over the coming weeks, they’re within reach of the competition for now.

Costello was their best performer, a constant threat from frees and from play. But Brian Fenton was well marshalled by Donnchadh McHugh and Con O’Callaghan got very little change out of David McBrien. Ultimately, it took the injection of pace and poise off the bench in the shape of Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion to settle them down the stretch.

McStay’s side were well fit for everything the Dubs threw at them. Dublin used the wind to their benefit, with Costello, Niall Scully and Paddy Small kicking scores from further out than Mayo were willing to risk shots at the other end. O’Donoghue’s frees kept them ticking over until the turnaround, going in a point behind, 0-7 to 0-6.

Back and forth the game went in the second half, the temperature rising all the time, the noise levels tagging along. The sides were level seven times in the second half alone – each time Dublin tried to wriggle free, Mayo caught a hold of them and hung on. McCaffrey and Mannion came off the bench to zap a point apiece. Aidan O’Shea put in a phenomenal afternoon’s work, sending Tommy Conroy and O’Donoghue away for rousing scores.

Mayo’s momentum at the end seemed like it might be enough. O’Donoghue was a noble rival for Costello in the man of the match stakes and when he landed a huge score on the wind with six minutes to go, there was only a point in it. Colm Reape levelled matters with a 45 soon after – it was a slightly dubious call but Mayo will point to a non-awarded penalty in the first half to balance it out.

And so we went into three minutes of injury-time with everything even and Mayo in possession. They worked the clock and O’Donoghue drew a free with a fantastic take in front of Mick Fitzsimons. When he split the posts, the roof almost came off the Hyde. But the Dubs weren’t done.

Neither is football, as long as there are days like this.

DUBLIN: Stephen Cluxton; Eoin Murchan (0-1), Mick Fitzsimons, Seán McMahon; Brian Howard, John Small, Seán Bugler (0-1); Brian Fenton, Tom Lahiff; Niall Scully (0-1), Cormac Costello (0-7, 0-3 frees), Ciarán Kilkenny (0-1); Paddy Small (0-1), Con O’Callaghan (0-1, mark), Colm Basquel (0-2).

Subs: Killian McGinnis for Lahiff (h-t); Jack McCaffrey (0-1) for Scully, Paul Mannion (0-1) for Small (both 51 mins); Ross McGarry for McGinnis (64); James McCarthy for Bugler (68).

MAYO: Colm Reape (0-1, 45); Jack Coyne, David McBrien, Rory Brickenden; Sam Callinan, Stephen Coen (0-1), Eoghan McLaughlin; Jack Carney, Mattie Ruane (0-2); Donnacha McHugh, Darren McHale, Jordan Flynn (0-1); Aidan O’Shea (0-1, free), Tommy Conroy (0-3), Ryan O’Donoghue (0-7, 0-4 frees).

Subs: Conor Loftus (0-1) for McLaughlin (33 mins); Cillian O’Connor for McHale (56); Diarmuid O’Connor for Coen (59); Bob Tuohy for Ruane (64); Paul Towey for Carney (68).

Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan)