Dublin have booked their place in the All-Ireland semi-finals in emphatic fashion, defeating Mayo on a scoreline of 2-17 to 0-11 at Croke Park this afternoon.
The most highly anticipated game of the weekend, the first half of action between the two sides was a remarkable watch. The match was played at a remarkable pace, with both teams playing some brilliant football. Dublin found themselves ahead by one point at the interval, with the contest still very much in the balance.
Few would have predicted how the second half unfolded.
Mayo have often improved as games went on this season, but the opposite was the case on this occasion. Dublin burst out of the traps to start the second half, finding themselves seven points up within five minutes of the restart.
It's 1-04 without reply for Dublin at the start of the second half.
Colm Basquel scores his second goal following a defensive error
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That all but ended the game as a contest.
Mayo could never get going from that point, with The Dubs going on to win the game with 12 points to spare.
Tomás Ó Sé feels we might have been wrong about Mayo team
In the end, this was a massively disappointing end to the season for Mayo. They have shown at times this year that they are capable of playing some brilliant football, although they are often far too inconsistent.
They have stuttered on numerous occasions in this year's championship, losing to Roscommon in Connacht before then suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Cork in the round robin series.
Speaking on RTÉ after the game, Tomás Ó Sé felt that we all had been too keen to build up this Mayo team, something that has been a theme with the county in the past.
Dublin have seven attacks, seven shots, six scores (to start the second half), boom, game over. Mayo couldn't even get their hands on the ball...
You look at Mayo. They got rattled in Connacht after a brilliant, brilliant start to the season, they got rattled by Cork, and this was third one.
You look back, we were building them up. We always do, we build them up...
We all thought Mayo were the better team in the first half, but they still went in a point down. The whole game was the first ten minutes of the second half.
Kevin McStay was magnanimous in defeat after the game, admitting that Dublin had been the far superior team on the day. He also pointed out his side are a work in progress, having been appointed on a four-year term as Mayo boss prior to this season.
Today's game showed that they still have a long way to go if they are to compete at the very highest level on a consistent basis.
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