Not long after half time, the elastic snapped. Dublin were different, Mayo were different, the mood was different. The match went.
A one-point, heads-or-tails, game turned into Mayo’s biggest defeat at Dublin’s hands since these teams first met in the championship, 117 years ago. At half-time, the first half seemed important. Second thoughts made an expert of everyone.
In a scattered championship questions have been spinning around for months, until this weekend, when familiar answers eviscerated the mystery.
Kerry and Dublin emerged from ragged campaigns to find their moxie, both of them winning by 12 points in games that looked hairy before a ball was kicked. For the first time this summer, appearances don’t seem so treacherous.
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A draw was needed to determine the pairings for the All-Ireland semi-finals, and because Derry and Monaghan had already met in the Ulster championship they were kept apart. The upshot is that Monaghan will meet Dublin, Kerry will play Derry, and the bookmakers have already chalked up defensive odds. What looked like the most open race for Sam Maguire in years has been derailed by the oldest certainties in Gaelic football.
Dublin were terrific in the second half yesterday. They had no right to lead by a point at the break, but within a matter of minutes it was of no consequence. From their first seven attacks in the second half they plundered six scores.
Mayo were mugged for a goal – when Sam Callinan thought the endline was his friend and Paul Mannion picked his pocket – and having been full of energy and confidence and purpose in the first half, Mayo were emptied of all those feelings.
In a 24-minute spell, either side of half-time, Mayo went from two points up to eight points down, without registering a score. They lost control of their kick-outs, and when Dublin raised the volume of everything after half-time, it looked as if Mayo dropped their hands, dazed and defenceless.
They had a goal disallowed before half-time – when Jordan Flynn was deemed to have lifted the ball with his knees – and midway through the second half Eoghan McLaughlin scuffed a shot against the post with an open goal at his mercy, but neither event was a turning point. Too much else happened.
At times over the last couple of years Dublin have looked like a karaoke version of the six-in-a-row team. Their best players were not as good as they used to be, the players promoted from the bench and the fringes were not as good as the players that went before them; tactically, they weren’t as coherent. They were liable to have days when their focus was fuzzy. Talk of splitting Dublin in two had gone quiet.
But maybe in the second half yesterday something awakened in them again. Neither Cormac Costello nor Colm Basquel were good enough for Dublin’s starting forward line when they were Masters of the Universe, but Costello has been their best forward this summer, and Basquel played his best game ever for Dublin yesterday.
Con O’Callaghan kicked a couple of points when it didn’t matter; Ciarán Kilkenny came off the bench, maybe dropped, maybe protecting a dodgy shoulder. Dean Rock made a token appearance. It’s a different formula now. No big plans; just looking for something that will work for the next month. Maybe this was the stimulus they were waiting for: Croke Park, in midsummer, with their season on the line.
“I think we knew we hadn’t performed that well [in the first half],” said Dessie Farrell.
“We were happy to be a point up at half-time not having gone great and knew there was much more in us. It was just a case of trying to liberate ourselves a little bit and throw off the shackles and play front-foot football.”
Mayo didn’t have that change of gear. When they were going well in the first half, they needed to be ruthless. It is not a new fault.
“It’s a tough arena to be in when the Dubs are in their pomp,” said Kevin McStay. “The gap at the end, I don’t think we deserved that gap.”
For Mayo, there is no future in that thought. Their strength deserted them; their weakness exposed them.
In the first quarter-final, the football and the atmosphere were decaffeinated. Derry won by four points, handy. Excitement came in short shocks, like a bed cramp.
When Roy Keane’s smiling face flashed up on the big screen after 20 minutes it was enough to generate a terrace chant from Cork’s hastily arranged band of travelling supporters; by that point, they were gasping for a cheer.
Cork have made huge strides since they were upended by Meath at home in the opening round of the league, five months ago, but there are still holes in their experience and in their field craft.
In football, marginal stuff makes the difference. Derry were more patient in defence and more economical in attack. They were better at surging. Cork had plenty of possession, but it sometimes felt like the ball was depreciating in their hands.
They got within a point of Derry with a brilliant goal by Rory Maguire early in the second half, and conceded a goal to Conor Doherty in the next attack. Shane McGuigan failed to kick a score from play, and had a penalty saved near the end, but even with their marquee forward misfiring Derry had Cork’s measure.
Kerry next. Different question.
