Mayo 0-20 – Dublin 0-8
The All-Ireland champions losing by 12 points? To Mayo? And only scoring eight points? Yep, it happened.
If Dublin knew what was going to transpire at McHale Park this evening, then they would have gladly played through the fog that engulfed the Castlebar venue before the original fixture was abandoned last month.
Unfortunately for Pat Gilroy’s men, they had to play the whole 70 minutes and were drastically off-key against a Mayo side that suddenly hit form after a disastrous run of three straight defeats.
Despite perfect conditions in front of over 10,000 spectators at McHale Park – there was free admission after all – the Dubs never got going and insult was very much added to injury when they had Paul Flynn and Diarmuid Connolly dismissed in the second half.
As for Mayo, their tails were up from very early on and they took an eight point lead into the interval after some fine contributions from Conor Mortimer, Michael Conroy and Alan Dillon in the opening half.
A failure to kick on from a good start cost Mayo against Cork last week, but it was not an issue here, with centre back Donal Vaughan scoring two points in an early second half surge which blew the Dubs out of sight.
A bad night for the Dubs then, and they might just have to beat Cork in the last game to ensure a place in the last four. Mayo, who were worried about relegation beforehand, will also be in the last four if they beat a Kerry team who have already qualified in Tralee next Sunday.
Finally, special mention must be given to Mayo’s Conor Mortimer, who broke the county’s all-time scoring record – previously held by Joe Corcoran – with an impressive eight-point tally this evening.
Our hats are doffed to you, Mort.
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