Dublin have defeated Mayo after a comfortable 2-17 to 0-11 win in Croke Park this afternoon, to book their place in the All-Ireland Football Championship semi-finals where they will face Derry.
It was a closely fought first-half, with the scores at 1-06 to 0-08 after the opening 35 minutes, before Dublin completely blitzed Mayo in a devastatingly accurate third quarter which included a goal from man of the match Colm Basquel.
The old guard of Paul Mannion, James McCarthy, Ciarán Kilkenny, and Dean Rock also showed up brilliantly in the second-half, and the quality of the side's performance was acknowledged by Mayo manager Kevin McStay after the game:
In the end it's a big gap. But at half-time we were absolutely where we thought it would be, one up, one down, whatever, and we got ourselves into a really good position.
We had our chances, even the goal just after half-time, we gave one away that we will be a bit unhappy with, and then the other end we missed one.
That was a big swing but you couldn't take anything away from Dublin, I think Dublin found their Championship form in a big way today, and we suffered at their hands.
They were incredibly accurate for a period, you just didn't think they would miss no matter where they fired from in the second-half. So well done to Dublin, they haven't gone away.
Kevin McStay Remains Positive Despite Heavy Defeat
2 July 2023; Mayo manager Kevin McStay during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final match between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Mayo manager Kevin McStay admitted his second were very much second best against Dublin but added that it is year one in a long-journey. #sundaygame pic.twitter.com/ckRhqs4jBY
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 2, 2023
READ HERE: Lee Keegan Has One Big Concern For Mayo Ahead Of Dublin Clash
Despite the nature of the loss, McStay made a point to explain that this Mayo side is at the beginning of their journey and that it was a positive year overall for the county.
"Not at all Damian," answered McStay when asked would he make excuses.
"We were flying it at half-time, we had plenty of energy, we were in great form and great shape at half-time.
"But the small little things went against us in terms of the chances, and then Dublin went on a really hot streak and never let up after that. They really executed some great scores, and they are a very, very fine team, there's no question about that and we got a tough lesson today.
"But I have to look at this in the overall. We'll take plenty of lessons from it. We had three or four young players in our backline. This will be a great day out for them when they look back on it in ten years and they'll learn an awful lot from it.
"That's the way we ave to look at it. We're here for a longer haul then just having a crack in one single season. So we'll go back, we'll rest now, and just go back and we'll meet up and see what's the overall picture.
"In an overall sense, not a bad year for us but today ends disappointingly."
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