Mayo Through To All-Ireland Finals

All Ireland Senior Football Semi Final
Mayo 1-16
Dublin 2-12

Mayo confounded all pre-match forecasts by edging out favourites Dublin in this brilliant spine tingling semi-final clash at Croke Park on Sunday. By the slenderest of margins the Connacht champions booked their place in next months final against Kerry.

This was by far the best game of the championship to date. In fact it was one of the great semi finals, fit enough to rank beside that memorable Dublin-Kerry clash of '77 and last years titanic all Ulster battle between Armagh and Tyrone. From all the pre-match shenanigans where both teams warmed up side by side in front of Hill 16 to the last kick this was breathtaking stuff. The game had everything to satisfy the most critical follower. There was passion, commitment, bravery, great scores, near misses, hard tackling, brilliant team play, with some memorable individual performance thrown in.

An attendance of 82,148 were left breathless at the end of it all. Played in perfect footballing conditions the game began at a bewildering pace that never slacked off for its 73 minutes duration.

Dublin began as pre-match favourites, a tag that seemed to inhabit rather then to inspire them. Due to the intensity and seriousness of Mayo's challenge, Dublin did not register their first score until the 17th minute, a point from Keaney. By then Mayo had 4 points on the board, through Dillon (2), Mortimer and an unbelievable point from a 40 metre sideline kick by McDonald.

Dublin then clicked into gear scoring a goal and 2 points to take the lead. Each time Dublin went into a lead Mayo responded immediately. How valuable at the end of the day were Mayo's 2 points in injury time to take a 1 point lead at halftime (0-9 to 1-5).

Dublin's lightening start to the second half had then leading by 7 points by the 45th minute. Again Mayo's response was magnificent, to such an extent that in the remaining 25 minutes, they out saw Dublin by 1-6 to 0-1. To rescue the side Dublin made numerous substitutes but to no avail, as Mayo were by then unstoppable.

Fittingly it was left to the left foot of McDonald to secure the winner in the 67th minute when after sprinting 10 metres to take a pass he sweetly dissected the posts for the winner. The Hill is silenced for another year.

This was Mayo's best performance in Croke Park for over 50 years. They displayed a toughness and determination that totally upset Dublin. Once again, full back Heaney was heroic. On Sunday's form, McDonald is almost unmark able. Mortimer, Brady and Dillon were prolific point scorers, while midfielders Harte and McGarrity (until he was put out of the game by a brutal tackle from Whelan) had the upper hand throughout. Even the Mayo substitutes, particularly Brady, O'Neill and Moran contributed greatly to this magnificent win.

Dublin display was mixed. They had a very slow start and were completely over ran in the last 25 minutes. Very few of their more prominent players stood out, with the possible exception of Goggins, Ryan, Sherlock and Brogan.C

Teams:
Mayo: D Clarke; D Geraghty, D Heaney, K Higgins; A Higgins, J Nallen, P Gardiner; R McGarrity, P Harte; AN Other, G Brady, A Dillon; M Conroy, C Mortimer, C McDonald
Dublin: S Cluxton; D Henry, B Cahill, P Griffin; P Casey, B Cullen, C Goggins; C Whelan, S Ryan; C Keaney, A Brogan, R Cosgrove; J Sherlock, K Bonner, T Quinn