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Cork didn't come from nowhere in 2010. They were there or thereabouts for the previous 4 or 5 years getting to finals, winning national leagues and U21 all Irelands.

[Then a few Tyrone misses seem to sap their momentum and the game turned.]

From what I remember, Tyrone were dominating that game in 2019. McShane and Donnelly destroying the Kerry full back line. Then a few Tyrone misses seem to sap their momentum and the game turned.

You could say that about so many games we've played against Kerry or Mayo in the championship for the last 10 years. So close and just wasteful. In old me I always blamed the ref for a lot of those losses but in all fairness we kicked the games away.

2019 Kerry 1 goal in it.
2016 Mayo 1 point in it
2015 Kerry 4 points in it

That game in 2016 was a very nervy finish from us. Even though we had an extra man it was all Tyrone in the last 5 minutes.

From what I remember, Tyrone were dominating that game in 2019. McShane and Donnelly destroying the Kerry full back line. Then a few Tyrone misses seem to sap their momentum and the game turned.

Colm Parkinson mentioned on his podcast that the whole Mayo, Dublin and Kerry panels were vaccinated. I'm not sure where he heard that or if it's true.

Personally think the mayo Dublin niggle went too far , I also think its naive to think some of these so called personal battles were just part of the game , I dont know but I'd have a wager some of them players mentioned genuinely despise each other.   It wasn't healthy , philly McMahon is a horrible individual and that off the field nicely nice shite doesnt wash with me , hes a wrong un . Look back at that flying kick into cillian in 2015 , seriously messed up that kind of shit .

Wasn't that cooper on Diarmuid O'Connor in 2015?

So far would go with

Rob Hennelly
Michael Fitzsimons
Padraig O'Hora
Tom O'Sullivan
Patrick Durcan
Stephen Coen
Gavin White
Matthew Ruane
Diarmuid O'Connor
Mattie Donnelly
Sean O'Shea
Ryan O'Donoghue
Darren McCurry
David Clifford
Tommy Conroy

Player of year contenders
Matthew Ruane
Sean O'Shea
Gavin White
Padraig O'Hora
Darren McCurry

Lee Keegan would be incredibly unlucky to miss out on an all star this year

Last Sunday was the first reak day to start looking at all start as probably 13 or so of them will come from the Last 4 so theres plenty of tiem any Kerry or tyrone players to make it.
2 good Games from Clifford now and he will be Player of the year dispite  Middling for till now .
I wonder does young player of the year  ahve to come from the seniors . Hession may i think would be our only contender gewise and that would be mainly based on a half a game or do untill now as he was sinding his feet in the other matches.
Jack byrant  or cormac egan would be worthy winners

Oisín Mullin is still eligible for young player of the year. You have to be U21

David Clifford doesn't warrant one on performances so far, but his brother does

Keegan got black carded in the 2016 replay for a cynical pull back, even though it didn't meet one of the black card offences. Con and David Byrne did something similar yesterday. Scully clearly hand tripped Diarmuid O'Connor, although it was during wrestling off the ball so not really cynical play.

[I may be wrong but I think every Dublin players stayed on the field and congratulated their opponents. They were certainly gracious in defeat. They had tried every means possible to win but accepted their defeat like gunuine sportsmen.]

As the game went on, I got increasingly thick with the Dublin side's cynical play. It got worse as the game slipped away from them. Lane was fluting about waving black and yellow cards but taking no decisive action.
I honestly thought Dublin were a disgrace to their county.
Then the game ended...
I may be wrong but I think every Dublin players stayed on the field and congratulated their opponents. They were certainly gracious in defeat. They had tried every means possible to win but accepted their defeat like gunuine sportsmen.
A point that should be noted.

I heard rte on about this too. Doesn't every team do that win or lose? It would be bizarre if they just walked off the pitch without shaking hands. That's basic etiquette even in my 5 a side soccer.

[It was a tough game with neither side holding back but I'm sure that's the way Mayo would want it]

Well done Mayo.

You have been in lockstep with Dublin over the last ten glorious years and have never let us out of your sights. It's appropriate that you are the ones who were there the day the music died. It was a tough game with neither side holding back but I'm sure that's the way Mayo would want it – a victory handed to them on a plate would be no use to them. I believe all Dublin supporters will be wishing you all the best in the Final.

As a Dublin fan the last ten years have been a golden era which back in the early 2000s none of us would ever have foreseen. We were blessed to be able to follow the best Gaelic football team that ever was or probably ever will be. The scale of Dublin's achievement can be appreciated by considering that Mayo's stunning performance last night would have to be replicated in almost every significant game between now and 2030.     

No I'd have preferred less broken jaws to be honest.

[So the reason I don't see Mayo getting across the line this evening is the same reason they haven't got across the line against Dublin in league or championship since 2012. Namely, they just don't have the scoring power.If they're relying today on Tommy Conroy and Ryan O'Donoghue to do things that no Mayo men have done against marquee opposition in 20 years, then they might as well be putting their faith in a scratch-card.]

Tomás Ó Se had some great lines in his article too...

Same old failing will come back to haunt Mayo in another tilt at the champions

'The Dubs may be vulnerable, but they're also cold-blooded and street-wise. Do you not think Brian Fenton and Con O'Callaghan have it in them to lift their form half a dozen notches now?'

How sobering it is to think that we're now 17 years on from that moment Michael Lyster so famously turned to Colm O'Rourke at half-time in the '04 All-Ireland final and suggested they were "looking at a murder scene".

All bar a single county wanted Mayo to beat us that day, particularly after their final experiences of '89, '96 and '97. Even back then, people were talking of the gap to '51 as some kind of terrible aberration for such a proud football county.

Yet here we are today, that great lake of time now stretching to an ocean of 70 years.

Most neutrals would love to see them reach the mountain-top, but I'd hazard a guess most realists don't see it happening any time soon. Why? Put me down for precisely the same reasons we were so confident against them in '04.

Reasons, I don't doubt, Dublin are putting their faith in today.


I think we all find entertainment in the venom that's still so palpable between these two teams. They don't much like one another, that's crystal clear.

Yes, there's a level of competitive respect there but make no mistake the over-riding feeling between them isn't far off hatred. Now I imagine there'll be plenty of people ready to take offence at that word. I get it. Hatred isn't a good thing. Hatred isn't anything to be encouraged.

But trust me on this. In serious sport, hatred is never far beneath the surface in relationships between fierce rivals. It's an energy source, a power.

Remember the tunnel incident at half-time in last December's All-Ireland final? There were just two points in the game at the time and the Mayo lads clearly took exception to something Philly McMahon said, all hell suddenly breaking loose.

Plenty of people are appalled when they see that kind of stuff but there's not a senior inter-county hurler or footballer in the country who'd be among them. The field is a hot place to be in championship especially and, if a bit of pushing and shoving makes you queasy, it's time to hand back the jersey.




Now I'm only speculating but my take on that was that Philly, a wise old head on his shoulders, reckoned it was time to rattle a few Mayo cages with the game too close for comfort from the Dubs' point of view (they led by two points).


Remember what then happened when the game resumed?

Down to 14 men because of Robbie McDaid's sin-binning, Dublin completely controlled the next quarter.

That was Mayo's moment to put the squeeze on Dublin, but it seemed to me that they just didn't have the know-how. To drive that hammer home, they needed to get scores. But that third quarter was, essentially, when they lost the final.

So the reason I don't see Mayo getting across the line this evening is the same reason they haven't got across the line against Dublin in league or championship since 2012. Namely, they just don't have the scoring power.

If they're relying today on Tommy Conroy and Ryan O'Donoghue to do things that no Mayo men have done against marquee opposition in 20 years, then they might as well be putting their faith in a scratch-card.

That's not meant to be offensive. They're both good players, but this is Dublin. This is the all-too-familiar reality check. Put it this way: Conroy and O'Donoghue both struggled against Galway. A Galway team we now recognise as bang average.

The only reason Mayo won that game was that Galway could not sustain their intensity for 70-odd minutes. But Dublin will. They always do. Dublin's work-rate is never up for debate. Look at the tackles Cormac Costello gets in around his own '45.

I was listening to Andy Moran on a podcast this week and something he said struck me as an unwitting explanation as to why Mayo just can't close this deal. Andy knows his stuff, to be fair, and his view was that Mayo would have to get goals to win this game. I agree totally.

But he then listed six Mayo players he reckoned carried a potential goal threat and the first four he named were two defenders and two midfielders. Think about that. If you're depending on your backs and midfielders to worry Dublin in an attacking sense, you might as well be trying to climb Everest with only a rope. It seems to me that Dublin just need energy right now and the sight of Mayo is going to give it to them.


Yes, there's a perfectly plausible conversation doing the rounds that Mayo might just catch them here. It's plausible because, if anything, the Dubs have looked a little bored so far. Leinster never stretches them and it's clear as day that it's not exactly the most harmonious camp by recent Dublin standards.

The list is long.

McMahon having to miss training because of his work as a performance coach with Bohemians; Kevin McManamon over in Tokyo for nearly a month with the Olympic boxers; Stephen Cluxton still doing his Greta Garbo thing when it's clear Dessie Farrell wants him back; Eric Lowndes leaving the panel in mid-season without as much as a sentence of explanation.

Or even Dean Rock being taken off the last day against Kildare and choosing not to sit with the other players in what looked to me a minor act of petulance.

It all feels or appears to be that bit looser, which might be down to the players as much as the new management.

But can you imagine any of that happening on Jim Gavin's watch? Not a hope. No squad is ever entirely happy because the players not getting game-time will, inevitably, be inclined to bitch. But this feels something deeper than that.


This feels like a process of transition that is hitting trouble.

All of which is why people are giving Mayo such a big shout here. I get that. And let me be clear, I expect Mayo will run them close. They invariably do.

But beat them?

The Dubs may be vulnerable, but they're also cold-blooded and streetwise. Do you not think Brian Fenton and Con O'Callaghan have it in them to lift their form half a dozen notches now as we arrive at the business end of championship? Of course they do. And Mayo know that better than anyone.

I'm assuming they'll put Paddy Durcan on Ciarán Kilkenny and Oisín Mullin on O'Callaghan or maybe vice versa. But Durcan and Mullin were two of the players Andy Moran identified as potential goal threats for Mayo. If they're having to keep tabs on Kilkenny and O'Callaghan?

I can't see it.

What Mayo wouldn't do to have a young Lee Keegan on hand now, the kind of player who could keeps tabs on a superstar like Diarmuid Connolly and still nail 1-2 of his own. That Keegan doesn't exist anymore.


He can't really do both anymore.

I think James Horan has shown a remarkable ability to regenerate this team, so much so it's hard to argue that they're significantly weaker than they were a few years ago.

Yes Cillian O'Connor's absence is being felt, especially from frees. I watched Mayo's first half against Galway again this week and it's fair to say that they were shocking. Just taking stupid options, kicking awful wides, spilling deplorable handpasses and missing the kind of frees O'Connor kicks in his sleep.

With over half an hour of that game gone, Mayo had a miserly 0-4 on the board.

Yes, the second half was a different story with the likes of Matthew Ruane especially thundering into the game. But I don't doubt the Dubs will be giving Brian Fenton earache now about just how well Ruane is playing. That's how this always works.

When we were going so poorly in '09, the only thing my brothers Darragh and Marc kept hearing before our quarter-final against Dublin was how Ciarán Whelan and Bernard Brogan were both flying. Fair to say by the end of that week, the two boys were primed for war. Trust me, that's how Fenton will be feeling this week. He'll be looking at what he considers a pretender to his throne and thinking, 'No, not today buddy!'


Kildare asked nothing of Dublin. They never pressed up on Evan Comerford's kick-outs, which is fine if you've built a lead.

Then – by all means – hold your shape, stay defensively tight. But if you're chasing a game and still refuse to push bodies forward then you're, essentially, just accepting your fate.

Mayo will ask questions. I don't doubt that.

They know just how important Cluxton has been to this Dublin story and will aim to find profit in his absence now.

Across all of the All-Ireland finals Cluxton played for Dublin, you could count on one hand his second-half kick-outs that were lost.

Cluxton's second-half showings in those finals were almost flawless.


Mayo forced him to go long six times in last year's first half and all six failed to end up in Dublin hands. That should have been the foundation stone on which Mayo made a profit. But they couldn't. And come the second half? Every single Cluxton kick was on the money.

It makes sense for Mayo to go after Evan Comerford's kicks this evening. He's a fine goalkeeper, but we can't really say if he's a readymade replacement for the greatest number one of all when he hasn't yet weathered a fraction of Cluxton's wars.

The trouble for Mayo is their scoring purple patches don't tend to come against Dublin or Kerry and, until that changes, they're not getting their hands on Sam. Not a hope.

Mayo greatest strength is their work-rate and they have so many defensive players that we'd love to have in Kerry. But, let's face it, they'd kill for Kerry's six forwards too. And forwards, ultimately, win All-Irelands.

I've massive time for Horan as a manager by the way, but he can only work with the talent at his disposal. And Mayo seem to be regenerating only in the areas they're already strong in. The marquee forward they've craved for a decade now has yet to be unveiled.


Yes, Cillian O'Connor has been an outstanding player, but he's never been the game-changer in a final that the likes of Kilkenny and O'Callaghan have been for Dublin.

Now I hasten to add, that can still be said of David Clifford and Seánie O'Shea in Kerry too. The difference, of course, is that O'Connor has spent a decade trying to get over that line, the Kerry boyos are just starting.

Which is the big problem for Mayo now. In my opinion, they were a trickier opponent back in my day when the likes of Moran and Ciarán McDonald were still playing. They were certainly more unpredictable.

I expect Mayo to try running the legs off Dublin today because, man for man, they just don't have the stuff to outplay them.

People are making an argument for them on the basis that Dublin seem to have regressed spectacularly. I'm more inclined to think they've just been a little distracted until now. But that changes here.


The Dubs may not be what they were, but that doesn't mean they can't make it seven in a row. All that talk of an unhappy camp isn't legal tender until they lose.

They categorically don't like Mayo and rest assured that will give them energy this evening.

An energy I just can't see the Connacht champions overcoming.

Great win for us! A few thoughts after travelling home from Croker and reading through the comments...

On Hennelly retaking the 45, everyone around me in the stand assumed it was because all the substitutions hadn't taken place. Darren Coen had come on for Mayo but Stephen Coen hadn't left the pitch so we had 16 players on at the time. Surely correct that it wasn't allowed be taken?

Don't know why there are people criticising Fenton. He was one of Dublin's best players, some huge catches in midfield in the 2nd half under pressure. If I was to pick a few Dublin stars that underperformed, it would be Con and after halftime Kilkenny and McCarthy.

It was a real collective effort from us, hard to pick out 1 individual. Hennelly, Keegan, O'Hora, Ryan O'Donoghue and Tommy Conroy the best of the starters. I thought Enda Hession was unreal when he came on, Oisín Mullin-esque speed and ball carrying ability.

Darren McHale and Aido had nightmares. I can only imagine missing 2 easy chances into the hill against Dublin would rock your confidence and he didn't recover.

We'll be underdogs in the final no doubt, but no reason we can't win it.

any truth that oisin mullin is gone for the season? whatever chance mayo had before is surely significantly diminished without him? he's their x factor player at the moment.

There seems to be 2 stories going round. One is he's gone for the season, the other is it's a minor knock and he'll probably start.

Jez, there is a lot getting carried away here. Many talking about Dublin's demise, Mayo quick re-emergence.

I've never heard so much written about a county like Mayo that has been propping up Dublin since 2013. Dublin must love this! Mayo ran Dublin close. Dublin hate playing Mayo. Dublin fear Mayo. Dublin respect Mayo. Only Mayo give Dublin a game. Blah de Blah! It has to be one of the most one sided rivalries where the perception is that both teams are equals.


It's amazing how rose tinted the glasses are for our own county giving us exaggerated hope. Mayo are moving in the right direction, but replacing the golden bunch of 2013-17 won't happen over night and maybe will never happen. Dublin still have the mainstay on the pitch to eek out another AI title. They are definitely still ahead of Mayo.

It's funny how perceptions are. We beat Galway by 6 points and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Dublin beat Kildare by 8 points and were never in any danger of losing yet they are stuttering and on the decline.

Rock didn't look too happy today either

Wasn't great body language from Rock sitting in the stands after being subbed. Probably reading too much into it however.

Any word on O'Hora's injury, did he end up fracturing a rib?Did John Small pick up another injury in the second half today? I missed what happened.