371 days.
The last time Mayo appeared in Croke Park in an All-Ireland football semi-final they almost lost it to a last gasp goal and point, after looking comfortable in the final ten minutes against Kerry in a game that ended that 1-16 each.
Fast forward to 2015 and Mayo turned the tables on a Dublin side that failed to score for the final 15 minutes, and will now have to plan for an All-Ireland replay without their talisman Diarmuid Connolly after an epic 2-12 to 1-15 draw.
Both sides were asked serious questions but neither management will be happy with the answers they gave for the majority of today’s 70+ minutes in Croke Park.
It was there for both sides. It was so close they could almost smell it but, in the end, fatigue, both mental and physical, clouded judgement in the dying stages.
Dublin played their first division one opponents in the Championship on Sunday afternoon and after 60 minutes you would have thought that the Leinster outfit were home and hosed.
They led by seven points and their last three scores had come from the Brogan brothers and Jack McCaffrey.
All Ireland S/Final: Pts from Alan and Jack Mc
25mins 2nd Half @DubGAAOfficial: 2-12(18) @MayoGAA: 0-11(11)#COYBIB #DUBvMAY @AIGIreland
— Dublin GAA (@DubGAAOfficial) August 30, 2015
But Jim Gavin’s side failed to score for the final fifteen minutes, Stephen Cluxton missed some frees and they lost their shape and discipline as Mayo rampaged down the middle.
Denis Bastick’s black card was arguably the game’s most decisive moment in the final quarter as Cluxton lost all confidence in playing the ball long.
While Dublin’s hard running from the back looked to have sapped their energy.
Dublin were looking for the test they needed so badly all year but today, in the crucial period of the game, they blotted their answer book.
Gavin’s side were ill-disciplined (despite referee Joe McQuillan being generous in some calls) while his side crumbled when calm heads – as you would expect from players who were All-Ireland winners just two seasons ago – were lacking.
Bernard Brogan showed flashes while the Mayo sweeper collected ball after ball and both sides were guilty of running into traffic and coughing up ball.
It was most unlike Dublin, and Gavin must be concerned that, when his side’s short kickout option is nullified, Dublin’s options are limited.
Paul Flynn is out of form while Connolly is a massive hole to fill for next Saturday.
Do Dublin have a plan B? They may need it next week.
Mayo’s management must know that this evening, despite having played horribly they still have a chance.
Never before could you say a team from west of the Shannon are survivors but that’s exactly what they did today.
They did what an Armagh or a Tyrone would do to teams in the 2000s. Those sides were never beaten, they would grind and grind and force mistakes and then grab a crucial goal and choke the opposition and get the winning score in additional time.
Mayo clung on via the lifebuoy of Cillian O’Connor’s free-taking, and forced Dublin into fouling and losing their heads.
Eventually they got the energy to get to shore and they have a week now to try and dry off and get the water out of their ears.
There must a be a huge concern at how Aidan O’Shea was so ineffective, (even if he kept trying).
How can a starting forward division could malfunction so badly to score only once from play through Diarmuid O’Connor?
What a second half. Great spirit from Mayo but they were very wasteful until final ten minutes. One point from play from forwards! @RTEgaa
— Eoin Ryan (@eoinryan101) August 30, 2015
Mayo didn’t push up on Cluxton’s kickouts and so they were running backwards each time the ball went dead. Their forwards, didn’t trouble the scoreboard, and didn’t trouble the Dublin backs too much either. That needs to change.
That cannot be allowed to happen in Saturday evening’s replay.
A full-court press is required to force Cluxton to boom it long and at least longer than 13 metres.
How did this cute-hoor get a ticket? pic.twitter.com/5BRPaY2ZmQ
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 30, 2015
And what of this man in the stands?
A draw did his side no harm in last year’s pursuit of Sam Maguire, and the lessons learned from that drawn game were used to good effect in the replay six days later.
Eamonn Fitzmaurice will have seen the best and worst of both sides today.
His mind will be full of notes of how midfield for both sides was a non-contest, (much like last week) and how the Mayo forwards ran into Dublin backs by taking too much out of the ball, and how Cluxton is simply not the goalkeeper he once was.
An extra game won’t tire out either side too much you’d imagine, but both sides will need to learn from the mistakes of Sunday afternoon.
If you do not learn from your mistakes you are destined to repeat them.
Neither side can afford to skip class this week as Gavin and Holmes/Connelly will handing out extra homework for both sides.
