Blue steel frustrates Mayo again

Dublin 3-14 Mayo 2-17

Given that it was obviously out of public service, it was presumably an effort by management to reinforce in the players’ minds that they truly are at the summit of the Gaelic football world.

The players themselves appeared to absorb that message because they simply refused to accept second best when victory looked likely to elude them.

Eoghan O’Gara’s remarkable super sub intervention that yielded 66th and 71st minute goals turned a six-point deficit with 13 minutes remaining into a drawn game.

Yet as Dublin’s team bus negotiated the narrow exit corridor beneath the Hogan Stand, the number one at its rear only reinforced the memory of goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton’s manic evening.

Dublin were left to battle with 14 men from the 30th minute when Cluxton kicked out at Kevin McLoughlin for impeding his kick-out, earning the All-Ireland winning captain a silly red card.

Boss Jim Gavin was philosophical about the petulant act which mirrored Cluxton’s dismissal in the 2003 All-Ireland qualifiers when he booted Armagh’s Steven McDonnell.

Gavin said: “It looked like Stephen tripped him. (McLoughlin) was in front of the ball but he tripped him and we can’t have any complaints about that. Life is full of mistakes. We all make mistakes in life. The most important thing is to learn from them and to grow from them. That’s the way we’ll approach it.”

McLoughlin was the bane of Dublin goalies all evening. He slotted a great 23rd minute goal himself, finishing with 1-3 and punished a bad error by Cluxton’s replacement, Sean Currie, which led to a Mikey Sweeney goal.

Knockmore man McLoughlin recalled his part in the bizarre incident with Cluxton which inspired Mayo to surge four clear at half-time, 1-9 to 0-8.

McLoughlin said: “I just felt a bit of a kick. It kind of hurt. I ran in his way to stop him kicking the ball out quickly and I think he just retaliated. He felt I went over the line a bit. It was the ref’s decision after that.”

Mayo coped well initially with the extra man but, according to manager James Horan, soon dropped off their work rate which allowed Dublin to gain a foothold.

Still, with a six-point lead after 57 minutes and a five-point advantage with 65 minutes played, they should have held on. Instead, they allowed an unmarked O’Gara to capitalise on good work by the likes of Jason Whelan, Diarmuid Connolly and Alan Brogan to dispatch two Dublin goals.

Gavin said: “Eoghan’s a quality player and he once again demonstrated that. He’s really working hard on his technical skills and puts in many, many hours off the training field and on it. I’m delighted for him that he was so clinical with his finishes. He’s an important player for us and it’s good to see him demonstrate those skills.”

Both sides remain locked on seven points ahead of the final round of the league. Mayo arguably needed the win more as they sought to draw a line under last September’s All-Ireland defeat to Dublin with a morale-boosting result.

That they couldn’t hold on emphasises the fact that they have serious issues in defence which has leaked 13 goals in just six games.

It’s an ironic dip in form, given their forwards were blamed for holding them back in past Championship races while their defenders walked away with All Star awards.

Boss James Horan said: “To concede that much with a couple of minutes to go is very disappointing. We have been conceding a lot of goals all through the league campaign and three more now is disappointing.

“It’s very disappointing that we didn’t win the game and that we didn’t keep playing on and win out. But we did get a point and we have a good match coming up next weekend where we still have the chance to qualify for the play-offs as far as I can make out. So we’ll just have to look at this game, try and learn from it as we always do and keep working during the week and see how we do next weekend. It was probably down to a bit of everything that we didn’t hold on. A little bit of fatigue too. We made some poor decisions on our hand-passing. We went a little bit deep maybe looking for ball when we needed to be higher up the field.”

Scorers for Dublin: E O’Gara (2-0), K McManamon (1-2), C Costello (0-4, 1f), D Connolly (1f) and A Brogan (0-2), S Cluxton (1 45), P Flynn, P Andrews and J Whelan (0-1).

Scorers for Mayo: C O’Connor (0-8, five frees), K McLoughlin (1-3), M Sweeney (1-1), D Vaughan (0-2), J Gibbons, K Higgins and A Moran (0-1).

Subs for Dublin: J Whelan for Flynn (27), S Currie for Brady (30), N Devereux for Andrews (ht), J McCaffrey for O’Sullivan (ht), D Nelson for Daly (51), E O’Gara for Costello (57).

Subs for Mayo: S McHale for Boyle, black card (21), D Drake for Harrison (h/t), M Sweeney for Freeman (47), E Varley for Cafferkey (57), T Parsons for O’Shea (57), S O’Shea for Doherty (68).

Referee: C Reilly (Meath).

Dublin: S Cluxton; J Cooper, R O’Carroll, D Daly; J McCarthy, C O’Sullivan, K Nolan; MD Macauley, T Brady; P Flynn, D Connolly, P Andrews; K McManamon, A Brogan, C Costello. Mayo: R Hennelly; B Harrison, G Cafferkey, T Cunniffe; C Boyle, D Vaughan, L Keegan; A O’Shea, J Gibbons; K Higgins, A Moran, J Doherty; K McLoughlin, A Freeman, C O’Connor.