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Cormac Costello earns Dublin a draw against Mayo at the death

Updated / Thursday, 27 Jun 2024 16:44

All-Ireland champions Dublin needed a last-gasp point from Cormac Costello to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat after a rip-roaring third round All-Ireland series match at Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon.

The result means that Dessie Farrell's team finish on top of Group 2 on scoring difference and qualify for the All-Ireland quarter-finals in a fortnight’s time. Mayo will now face into a home preliminary quarter-final next weekend.

However, Kevin McStay’s team looked set to pull off a big upset when the outstanding Ryan O’Donoghue converted a free three minutes into added-time to give the Westerners the lead. At that moment they looked set to top Group 2.

But Dublin swept downfield from Stephen Cluxton’s resultant restart and Jack McCaffrey set up the influential Cormac Costello for his seventh point, which levelled the match for the 12th and final time in front of 16,780 spectators.

A draw was probably a fair result given the closeness of the exchanges all through, but there was no doubt who were the happier group of players as they left the field.

Dublin celebrated at the final whistle like they had beaten their great rivals for the fifth time in six championship outings while Mayo tried to accept the fact that they missed out on a great chance to upset the odds for the second time in three attempts.

Dessie Farrell’s charges had led at the end of a very competitive first half by 0-07 to 0-06 thanks to Cormac Costello’s fourth point of the day (two of them coming from frees). An indication of just how finely-balanced things were in that opening period can be gauged from the fact that the sides were level on five occasions.

With Brian Fenton being kept on a tight leash by Donnacha McHugh, and Ciarán Kilkenny also struggling to get into the game, Dublin found it difficult to get into any sort of a rhythm up front. But they still managed to carve out some well-taken scores from play from the aforementioned Costello, Con O’Callaghan, Paddy Small and Niall Scully to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Down at the other end, Aidan O’Shea, Tommy Conroy and Ryan O’Donoghue were causing Dublin’s defence problems when they ran directly at goal, and this led to a string of frees which were converted by O’Donoghue (3) and O’Shea (1) while Conroy and Stephen Coen also hit the target from play.

In truth, Mayo could easily have been in front at the interval had they taken some of the scores that were left behind, including a couple of missed frees from the otherwise reliable O’Donoghue.

Mayo also had claims for a penalty early in the second quarter when O’Donoghue went down under a challenge inside the large parallelogram when lining up a shot on the Dublin goal, but referee Martin McNally waved play on.

So, when the half-time whistle sounded, Dublin were somewhat fortunate to be a point in front. It was the same margin they were ahead by in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final, which ultimately they ran away with in the end.

It looked early in the second half like the Metropolitans might kick on like they have so often in the past; they were one point ahead at the interval but a few quickfire scores from Costello and Colm Basquel eased them 0-10 to 0-07 up after 40 minutes.

But Mayo were in no mood to stand aside this time and they rattled off three points in four minutes from Tommy Conroy, Mattie Ruane and Conor Loftus to tie the match up for the sixth time.

From there to the finish it was as frantic as it was tight and tense.

Ciarán Kilkenny, Cormac Costello, substitute Jack McCaffrey and Colm Basquel all traded points with Ryan O’Donoghue (2), Mattie Ruane and Tommy Conroy to leave the sides still deadlocked after 58 minutes.

Then Dublin went for the jugular with a pair of scores from sub Paul Mannion and Eoin Murchan - whose blistering shot clipped the crossbar on the way over - to surge 0-16 to 0-14 clear.

Again, Mayo responded as O’Donoghue fired over a brilliant long-range effort and Colm Reape landed a '45 to restore the status quo on 70 minutes.

The last few minutes were a blur as both teams chased a winning score; Ryan O’Donoghue looked to have delivered it when he whipped over a free that he’d won himself but Dublin showed their mettle to come up with the goods again in the dying seconds.

Mayo: C Reape (0-01, ‘45); J Coyne, D McBrien, R Brickendenc; S Callinan, S Coen (0-01), E McLaughlin; J Carney, M Ruane (0-02); D McHugh, D McHale, J Flynn (0-01); A O’Shea (0-01, 1f), T Conroy (0-03), R O’Donoghue (0-07, 5fs).

Subs used: C Loftus (0-01) for McLaughlin (33, inj); C O’Connor for McHale (55); D O’Connor for Coen (58); B Tuohy for Ruane (63); P Towey for Carney (67).

Dublin: S Cluxton; E Murchan, M Fitzsimons, S McMahon; B Howard, J Small, S Bugler (0-01); B Fenton, T Lahiff; N Scully (0-01), C Costello (0-07, 3fs), C Kilkenny (0-01); P Small (0-01), C O’Callaghan (0-01), C Basquel (0-02).

Subs used: K McGinnis for Lahiff (HT); J McCaffrey (0-01) for Scully (51); P Mannion for P Small (51); R McGarry for McGinnis (63); J McCarthy for Bugler (67).

Referee: M McNally (Monaghan)

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