Battling Mayo seconds away from victory against Dublin
A fisted point in the dying seconds by Cormac Costello saw Dublin grab a share of the spoils against Mayo in their All-Ireland series third round encounter at Dr. Hyde Park this afternoon. The teams finished on 0-17 each.
Mayo appeared to have snatched victory when Ryan O'Donoghue scored a late injury-time free but Dublin worked the ball forward from the kick-out and after collecting a pass from Jack McCaffrey, Costello showed great composure to level the game.
Had they held on for victory, Mayo would have gone straight into the All-Ireland quarterfinals in two weeks' time. The draw means they finish second in the group behind Dublin on scoring difference and thus they will have to play a preliminary quarterfinal next weekend, in which they will have home advantage.
The teams were level on no fewer than 12 occasions as Mayo put it up to the defending All-Ireland champions from the outset.
The Dubs held a one-point advantage at the break (0-7 to 0-6), Costello with four of Dublin's scores, including two frees, while O'Donoghue was leading the charge at the other end, with Aidan O'Shea, Stephen Coen and the excellent Tommy Conroy also chipping in with efforts.
Mayo tried to curtail the influence of Brian Fenton by instructing Donnacha McHugh to execute a man-marking job, and to an extent the ploy worked as Dublin didn't get into a slick rhythm in that first half.
A repeat of last year's All-Ireland quarterfinal, when Dublin blew Mayo away in the third quarter, appeared as though it might be on the cards when the Leinster champions scored two quick-fire points at the start of the second half and held a three-point lead (0-10 to 0-7) with 40 minutes played, but the westerners responded well.
Conroy, Mattie Ruane and Conor Loftus scored three points in the space of four minutes to bring the sides level for the sixth time, and it remained nip and tuck from there until the end.
Dublin managed to go two ahead late in the game thanks to points from substitute Paul Mannion and Eoin Murchan, who might have goaled but struck his shot just a tad too high, but a great effort from distance by O'Donoghue followed by a 45' by Colm Reape (Mayo were fortunate to have been awarded the 45' but Reape's execution was superb) made it a tied game again.
Deep into added time, O'Donoghue won a free and popped it over the bar, leaving Mayo seconds from victory. Dublin won the kick-out, however, and forced over a levelling score.
The draw for the preliminary quarterfinals will take place on RTÉ's Morning Ireland radio show at 8.35 a.m. tomorrow (Monday). Having finished second in their group, Mayo will have home advantage for the preliminary quarterfinal and as the GAA wants to avoid repeat group games 'where possible', they will meet one of Derry, Cork or Monaghan in next weekend's fixture as they already played Roscommon in the group phase.
*See Tuesday's print edition for a full report and reaction from the Mayo v Dublin game