Ultimate grudge match as Dublin hunt victory in Castlebar

List your top 10 grudge matches in inter-county Gaelic football at the moment. If Dublin don’t feature in at least three of them, best go again.

Almost a decade ago former captain Paddy Christie bemoaned the fact that for any other middling team to be such a prized scalp would be strange. For Dublin, he said, it was a norm. Counties wanted to beat them not because of what they were but who they were.

These days, Dublin are met with the perfect storm. Two All-Ireland titles in four years has raised the bounty on their heads just as they’ve targeted those who have either stopped or replaced them in those in-between seasons. The recent face-offs with Donegal and Kerry have had more than just a whiff of cordite. But neither game compared to last March’s draw with Mayo in Croke Park.

Stephen Cluxton may have been the only sending off in the game, for kicking out at Kevin McLoughlin as the Mayo forward denied him the chance of a quick restart, but he should have been joined by several more.

As rip-roaring a spectacle as the 3-14 to 2-17 scoreline suggests, what happened off the ball was almost as captivating as what happened on it.

The running scrap between Paul Flynn and Donie Vaughan in the first half could have developed into something far more serious had the former not left the field injured.

Back in Croke Park for the first time since Dublin took All-Ireland honours from them the previous September, after which Jim Gavin said they had to beat referee Joe McQuillan, and James Horan claimed Dublin were cynical, there was always going to be a bit of needle between the sides.

But then there had been altercations in their two league games in 2013 when Flynn and Aidan O’Shea seemed determined to inflict as much pain as possible on each other. Dublin have had four players sent off in the last three league round clashes with Mayo: Cluxton (2014), Ger Brennan (’13), Flynn and Connolly (’12).

As they go in search for two points on Saturday to avoid a relegation battle, they might consider better places to find them than MacHale Park where they have won just once since 1992 (2010). The Castlebar venue is where in February 2004 Tomás Quinn had a day to forget from the frees as Dublin put up just three points. It’s where three years ago the visitors managed eight points to Mayo’s 20.

With new management in place, Mayo’s approach to Saturday’s game may differ slightly although it’s unlikely to affect the players’ consideration for it in light of how many of them have history with Dublin.

Neither will it impact on Gavin’s men. It’s the ultimate grudge match but for the manager maybe the stakes are higher than he might like for this time of the season.