Battling Mayo foil Dublin at the death
However, this Mayo side are never beaten.
With seconds left, Cora Staunton launched a hopeful free to the edge of the square. The ball broke down to the grateful arms of Diane O'Hora, who spun away from her marker and fired the ball past Cliodhna O'Connor.
It was heart-wrenching for the Dublin supporters. After Gemma Fay put her side ahead in the 57th minute, they looked certainties to be crowned champions. But, this was Mayo's fourth All-Ireland title in five years. Their experience was illustrated by O'Hora's composure near the end.`
The corner-forward ended the game with 1-2, a fine achievement for someone who, after spending a year in New York, has only been on the margins of the Mayo team this year.
This was a poor match, not made easy by the weather, although the opening 10 minutes and final five minutes did have moments of genuine quality and excitement. Like the men's final a week before, it was predominantly defensive, but both sets of backs were superb.
For much of the game, Martina Farrell and Nuala O'Shea, the team's respective sweepers, were the most important players on the pitch. O'Shea was one of the stars for Mayo, particularly in the first half when she seemed to sweep up every breaking ball around her.
Indeed, Mayo constructed such a solid wall in their own half that Dublin failed to score for 41 minutes. After Mary Nevin slotted the ball over the bar in the fourth minute, they had to wait until the 45th minute for Angie McNally to tap over their third point of the game.
In that period, Dublin just found Mayo impossible to break down. The grim determination of the Connacht side was summed up by two fantastic blocks by Claire Egan early in the second half as Dublin, playing with the wind, came searching for scores.
Helena Lohan and Sharon McGing, playing for the memory of her sister, were solid for the entire game. Claire O'Hara had a fine game at wing-back.
The defence needed to be that good as Dublin got off to their customary fast start. From the throw-in, McNally went on one of her incisive runs, but the attack was snuffed out.
Elaine Murphy was the first Dublin player to find an escape in the Mayo defence, setting up Karen Hopkins for the opening score. Two minutes later, Nevin put Dublin two points up.
Mayo came thundering back. Points from Michelle McGing and O'Hora brought the teams level after 11 minutes.
It was a promising opening, both teams going at each other, but the difficult conditions soon had a say in matters. O'Hora chipped another fine score in the 15th minute to put Mayo ahead for the first time and then came one of the game's common, dour periods without a score.
The game went 11 minutes without a score, a period defined by scrappy play and some decent defending from both teams.
Maria Kavanagh had an excellent game, subduing Cora Staunton. The inspirational Mayo forward was off-colour, with a right leg so heavily strapped it looked mummified. She missed both her early frees, setting the tone for the day.
Kavanagh gave her no space to weave her magic and Mayo had to look to others for moments of brilliance. One finally came in the 26th minute, when Emma Mullins got away from Sorcha Farrelly, made space for herself and nailed a point.
That was the final score of the first half as the game petered out. Mayo went in 0-4 to 0-2 ahead, but Dublin had the advantage of the wind.
Unfortunately, that wasn't enough in the face of such Mayo resistance.
McNally, the player who had carried them to the final, was not having her best day and missed a couple of eminently scoreable frees.
Dublin dominated the second half, but didn't have the guile to slice the Mayo backs.
Mayo's Chris Heffernan got booked just to keep the match statisticians occupied, followed a minute later by Claire Egan. McNally finally got her name on the score-sheet, but at the other end Dublin discovered heroes.
Cliodhna O'Connor made two fine saves within three minutes of each other that kept Dublin in the game. First, she denied Heffernan and then moments later, she smothered a shot from Michelle McGing.
The saves seemed to enhance Dublin's confidence. Sinead Ahern, a 16-year-old substitute, conjured the score of the game to level matters.
Picking the ball on the end-line, she sold one defender a dummy, before switching from her right to left foot and directing the ball over the bar. A draw might have been a fair result at that point, but Dublin wanted more.
Fay put them ahead for the first time in 53 minutes, and Mayo had only seconds left to salvage the game. But, they don't understand the word defeat, they don't do surrender.
After the torment of a last-minute goal two years ago, it was fitting that Mayo should claim their fourth title in such a manner. There are no easy ways to lose an All-Ireland, but this was particularly cruel as could be seen in Dublin dejection afterwards. Perhaps, Mayo just about deserved it.
Scorers for Mayo: D O'Hora(1-2), M McGing, E Mullins(0-1 each) Dublin: M Nevin, K Hopkins, G Fay(0-1 each), A McNally(0-1, free)
MAYO: D Horan; N O'Shea, H Lohan, S McGing, M T Garvey, Y Byrne, C O'Hara; C Egan, J Moran; E Mullins, C Heffernan, M McGing, D O'Hora, M Heffernan, C Staunton Subs M Carter for Moran(40 mins), A Gallagher for Mullins(47 mins)
DUBLIN: C O'Connor; S Farrelly, L Keegan, M Kavanagh, N Hurley, M Farrell, O Colreavy; A McNally, N McEvoy; E Murphy, G Fay, B Finlay, M Nevin, L Kelly, K Hopkins.
Subs: E Kelly for Murphy(28 mins), A McCormack for Hopkins(42 mins), S Ahern for Nevin (41 mins)
Referee: E O'Hare (Down)
