Dublin advance as defences take day off

Dublin 2-16 Mayo 0-16

Dublin and Mayo sprinkled 34 scores around like confetti yesterday and spurned almost as many again in a Division 1 league semi-final more like a Wild West shoot-out than the trench warfare to be waged come the summer.

This was football with the shackles removed. Gone was the need to grind away for league points, to scramble for places up the slippery pole that is the table. This was football without consequences. A freebie. A weekend pass where everyone left their hair down and their top button open.