GAELIC SPORTS WORLD Issue 33 – September 4, 2015 | Page 31

MAYO V DUBLIN
TAKE TWO
– DENIS O’BRIEN
SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
In the absence of Tommy Moran, we take a look at the Mayo
v Dublin replay and how Part 2 might pan out with Denis
O’Brien.
Have Dublin blown it? Could their desperate bid to get
back to and win an All Ireland be gone? There they were with
some 9 minutes of normal time left and they led by seven and
looked as if they would win. But they didn’t as Mayo came
back with 1-4 without reply courtesy of a last minute penalty
and then levelling point. No further scores in five minutes of
injury time but Mayo were in the ascendancy and pressing.
This might suggest that Mayo have the momentum heading
into the sell-out replay on Saturday evening at Croke Park.

BETTER BUT …
Dublin played the better football in the opening half and
deserved to be in the lead, yet, there was only one goal between the sides 1-7 to 0-7 at half time. The goal coming from
a penalty that looked to this viewer as the foul taking place
outside the penalty area with momentum carrying the Dublin player into the zone. Dublin had the better player scoring
spread while Mayo looked lethargy upfront and depended
on Cillian O’Conner frees for scores. Mayo looked flat in that
opening half however they did look composed on the ball
but didn’t translate that to scores. So Dublin might have had
more of an advantage at the break although they weren’t exactly dominating either. Their second half goal opened the
lead but they could not finish out the game when it looked
that they should.

SCORING SPREAD
Mayo only really started to play in the last quarter of the
match. They dominated Dublin in those closing stages and
did well to rescue a draw. They scored 1-15 in total with 1-9 of
those coming from O’Connor while Dublin scored 2012 with
a better scoring spread as stated. Two things – Mayo have to
significantly up their scoring rate to win on Saturday, but at the
same time so do the Dubs. When was the last time Dublin only
had 0-12 in the point’s column. They normally shoot in the
18-22 point range and so to Mayo’s credit their defense showed
well which is a good sign for the replay.

KEY
Dublin’s Diarmuid Connelly’s red card late in the game sees
him missing the game as ruled this week by the GAA’s Central
Hearings Committee due to the mandatory one-match ban.
But Dublin will appeal the case and he may yet play. This could
be a key decision whether or not he is allowed to play as Connolly plays an important role in attack. Any time a team losses
a crucial player, especially an inspirational forward, it can be
detrimental to team’s morale. Dublin can be brittle mentally
and the thing about that is they know it! Mayo can take advantage and put the Dubs to the sword the second time around.

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