INSATIABLE DUBS CEMENT IMMORTALITY
Mayo can’t keep pace as Farrell’s men secure six-in-a-row
Dublin 2-14 Mayo 0-15
ANOTHER evening when Dublin’s achievement felt biblical in its scale.
Those weary from counting might argue that after the famous five, six is but another candle on the icing of their dominance.
Perhaps, but the number six is the biblical symbol for work, rooted in the passage that six days of toil would sow the earth for six years.
If so, it has felt like Mayo have laboured most of those days with them, but the only thing they have had to sow is misery and they have a whole new field of that to mull over now.
Last night they brought war like they always did, their grievance rooted in personal hurt of recent times and a tribal obsession that goes back much longer. Yet still they found the team that have won everything were able to dig deeper to win even more.
If Dublin’s unrivalled excellence has lost its lustre for some because of the advantages the county has accrued from its deep resources, there is still much to admire in their desire and ability to scrap for every inch which remains as defined now as it ever has been.
But for all their honesty of labour – and this insatiable appetite is truly remarkable – what sets them apart is their strength of nerve.
Mayo’s comfort is that yet again they pushed the champions hard enough for us to see that. However, it wasn’t enough to suggest they could push the champions over the edge, hard as they tried.
At half-time, that seemed possible.
With such an extensive back catalogue to draw from, inevitably this has the feel of a reunion tour rather than something brand new.
That being the case, this had all the feel of the 2016 drawn final but, once again, Mayo played the football and Dublin bagged the goals.
It simply could not have started worse for Mayo, the team who had conceded 10 goal chances in the semi-final gave up a three-pointer inside 14 seconds, as James McCarthy surged through the middle straight from the throw-in and fed Dean Rock who palmed the ball to net.
There were a couple of differences this time, Mayo were not putting the ball into their own net and Dublin’s second in the 23rd minute was down to the ingenuity of Con O’Callaghan who, after playing a one-two with Niall Scully hammered the ball into the net with a swing of his fist.
And that was the mechanics of how the champions arrived at the interval leading by two points (2-6 to 0-10) but blushing in recognition of their good fortune.
However that fortune did not extend to Robbie McDaid, whose black card on the stroke of half-time left Dublin down a man for ten minutes
That was just one more headache for Dessie Farrell to solve as the scoreboard could not hide the fact that his team were clearly playing second fiddle on and off the field.
For that, credit had to go to Mayo boss James Horan and his players, who inside five minutes had torched every pre-game misconception that the Connacht champions did not have the individual talent, or the kick-out strategy, to take down the champions.
Horan’s match-ups were on the money, with none more ambitious or effective than Oisín Mullin’s detail on O’Callaghan. The tactic had the added value of taking him into a part of the field where he could hurt the champions, winning three of Cluxton’s kick-outs as Mayo turned up the heat on the Dublin captain.
And there was little evidence of the much-hyped fragility of David Clarke’s restarts, as Aidan O’Shea, dropped out to the middle to beef up Mayo’s ball-winning power. And the force seemed to be with the challengers – they led 0-8 to 1-3 after 20 minutes.
It is a trite observation to suggest that halftime was the biggest test that Farrell has faced since succeeding Jim Gavin on the basis that it has been his only test. As it was, neither Farrell nor his team were cowed.
They emerged in the second half looking more like their old selves, Brian Fenton, a pale shadow of his usual self in the opening period, providing a relieved Cluxton with an outlet to hit and nerves were calmed. One of the biggest curiosities of Farrell’s tenure has been his decision to leave two-time AllStar Brian Howard out of his team, but in his time of greatest need, he came up trumps when he
brought him in for the second half.
And as the champions got a grip on both their own kick-outs and Clarke’s, this final swung ever so decisively Dublin’s way.
When Cillian O’Connor tapped over a free in the 50th minute, the sides were locked together at 2-8 to 0-14, and had the stadium been full it may well have been loaded with nervous tension, but instead it was brimful with Dublin purpose.
Over the next 13 minutes, the champions scored five without reply. Howard won a couple of huge kickouts, setting up two scores and kicking another point for good measure as they lengthened their stride for the line.
Mayo regrets will extend to losing Paddy Durcan to injury at half-time, but, in truth, the tide had turned in his head-to-head with Ciarán Kilkenny before the short whistle and after it the Castleknock man pulled all the strings, his impact going well beyond the three points he kicked.
Starved of ball and the clock ticking down, Mayo became frazzled and desperate – their muddled heads summed up by Eoghan McLaughlin spilling a ball as he bore down on goal – as the realisation dawned that this final was to play out the same way as so many others in their recent past.
For Dublin, it is a victory that cements this team’s immortal status, even if that had already been achieved last year.
But given their most testing opponent is history, this was a significant evening for seven of their number.
Stephen Cluxton, Michael Fitzsimons, James McCarthy, Michael Darragh Macauley, Philip McMahon, Kevin McManamon and Cian O’Sullivan – the latter failing to make the bench last night – all won their eighth medal and in the process equalled the record of the Kerry quintet of Páidí Ó Sé, Ger Power, Ogie Moran, Pat Spillane and Mikey Sheehy.
Catching up with past while still hunting down the future, we truly have not seen their likes before.
DUBLIN: S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, D Byrne, E Murchan (P McMahon 70+5); J Cooper (C Basquel 54), J Small, R McDaid; B Fenton, J McCarthy; N Scully (C Costello 70), C O’Callaghan, S Bugler (B Howard h-t); P Small (P Mannion 51), C O’Callaghan, D Rock, C Kilkenny.
Scorers: D Rock 1-4 (0-4f), C O’Callaghan 1-1, C Kilkenny 0-3, J Small, B Fenton, N Scully, S Bugler, P Mannion (f), N Scully 0-1 each.
MAYO: D Clarke; P Durcan (M Plunkett h-t), C Barrett, L Keegan; S Coen, O Mullin, E McLaughlin (J Durcan, 70+1); D O’Connor, M Ruane; K McLoughlin, R O’Donoghue (D Coen, 58), C Loftus (J Flynn 62); T Conroy (J Carr 49), A O’Shea, C O’Connor.
Scorers: C O’Connor 0-9 (5f, 2m), R O’Donoghue 0-2, C Loftus, O Mullin, D Coen (m), S Coen 0-1 each.
Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).