THE NEVERENDING STORY

Dublin fairytale showing no signs of stopping after easy Mayo win

Mayo 0-8 Dublin 1-11

AN early red card cost Mayo dearly as All-Ireland champions Dublin powered their way to their first victory of the season under the lights in Castlebar last night.

Dean Rock’s opportunistic goal in the 45th minute was the score that ultim- atmelyatberloykbero1k4e-m14a-nman

Mayo’s resistance as

the

Boys in Blue powered home to a comfortable win.

Rock’s audacious palmed effort during the third quarter looped past Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly and pushed the Dubs into a lead they didn’t surrender in front of a crowd of 15,148.

Mayo hit the wall after being forced to play with only 14 men from the 14th minute after Jordan Flynn was red carded by referee Barry Cassidy for a high challenge on Dublin’s John Small.

The Westerners had started positively and were two points ahead when Flynn was dismissed with early scores from Aidan O’Shea, Diarmuid O’Connor ( free) and James Carr putting them in the driving seat.

However, Dublin were back on level terms by half-time at 0-5 apiece as they utilised the extra man and started to warm to their task.

A couple of unanswered scores from Dean Rock ( free) and James McCarthy left the match all square as the teams headed down the tunnel.

The loss of Colm Boyle to injury at the break didn’t help Mayo’s cause either, and James Horan’s side went almost 25 minutes without a score either side of half-time as Dublin upped the ante. The visitors rattled off a further 1-3 without reply in an impressive burst during the third quarter, with Dean Rick flicking Kevin McManamon’s delivery into the Mayo net from an acute angle for his second goal in a week.

Dublin then went six points up after John Small galloped upfield to score in the 51st minute, and from there to the finish the game was over as a meaningful contest. Both sides emptied their benches and shared six points between them in the closing stages with the pick of the bunch coming from

James McCarthy, Aaron Byrne, Tommy Conroy and Fergal Boland.

Dublin, who had also won on both of their previous three league visits to Castlebar, justified their pre-match favouritism with a typically efficient and businesslike display.

They didn’t register a single wide in the second half while wateful Mayo clocked up 10 in total.

FERGAL SWINGS THE BLUES Mayo’s Fergal Boland finds his path to goal blocked as Dublin took care of Mayo in Castlebar