Mayo may have shown they have the hunger for the fight at Croke Park on Sunday, but the odds are still stacked in Dublin's favour for the replay, according to Colm O'Rourke.
The Sunday Game analyst praised the tenacity of Stephen Rochford's men in what was an absorbing All-Ireland final draw, but can't see past the Sky Blues for another Sam Maguire.
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“The odds still heavily favour Dublin," O'Rourke told RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland. "They still have the stronger bench and you would expect that their forwards will improve on the performance.
"They did make a few good openings for goals in the first half but as the game wore on they tended to run down more cul de sacs.
"Mayo have shown they’re not going to lie down – they were a bit like our Lord, they came back three times in the second half, so I would expect more fun and games. It’s going to be a fantastic replay.”
There were several sub-plots to a game riddled with errors, as the Green and Red earned another bite at the cherry thanks to a fine 77th-minute Cillian O'Connor score.
Just before that the Dubs had the opportunity to see the game out when in possession with a sideline kick deep in Mayo territory.
Dublin still have the stronger bench and you would expect that their forwards will improve on the performance.
Diarmuid O'Connor and Ciaran Kilkenny appeared to have an argument over who would take it - and what they'd do with it. The former eventually wrestled the ball away from his team-mate before bending a point attempt wide.
“It was unusual because Dublin are very good at holding possession," O'Rourke said of the incident.
"They’ve done it in several games, they’re often able to put 30, 40 handpasses together, but Mayo were tackling so hard and getting stuck in that they found it very difficult to compose themselves and there wasn’t time on the ball like Dublin had in most other games this year.
“I’d say Mayo will produce the performance, there’s no doubt that they will come with that same sort of fanatical passion to the replay. It’s just a matter of whether Dublin can cope with it a bit better."
Despite Jim Gavin's men being well below their best, it still took a moment of ice-cool precision from O'Connor to deny them glory.
O'Rourke said it was just another reminder of the Ballintubber man's class - and also highlighted Mayo's composure when it counted most as they patiently carved the opening - but he warned they will come up against a different animal on 1 October.
“That’s the sort of thing that great players do under pressure – they do the basic skills well," the Meathman said of O'Connor's leveller.
"He would have done that a thousand times in training and that’s why you practice over and over again, so that when you get one shot like that and you have to get it, you nail it.
"It showed also a bit of composure and intelligence in the Mayo players in that necklace of passes that went on before it. They looked for the right man in the right spot at the right time.
“Dublin have been on the go winter and summer for four years. They’ve won four leagues in arrow, four Leinsters in a row, they’re in the All-Ireland series every year.
"There’s a bit of wear and tear in the engine. But I expect that those players, because of the sort of confidence that they have in their own ability and the fact they want to attain high standards in every big game, that they will turn in a better performance the next day."
