A summer journey finally reached its climax on a dark, overcast October evening at Croke Park. Dublin are the All-Ireland champions for the fourth time in six seasons.
With so little between themselves and Mayo, it was a final replay that was always going to be decided by the smallest of margins: the tactical battles, the substitutions - the mistakes. So it proved.
Paul Galvin, writing in the Sunday Times, believes it's time for yet more Mayo soul searching. "I was seduced by Mayo in the last two weeks. Maybe that's just my wife's influence. Mayo people have a seductive quality. Watching them fall short again leaves me with a sense of despair for them. Where to look for answers? I'm tempted to look beyond the playing field at this stage. Their effort was huge but the spotlight has to fall on individuals now and what is happening away from the playing field. For all that I want to like them, listening to them reaching and claiming credit after winning qualifiers and provincials and quarter-finals is off-putting."
Also in the Times, Michael Foley asks, is this the Dubs' greatest ever team? "It's hard to imagine how much more they are expected to give before being properly accepted into that company and maybe lifted an inch higher than any of them. Last night represented their 29th game unbeaten across league and championship dating back to March last year. That's a record miles beyond anything achieved before. Like the 70s Dubs this crowd have now won three All-Irelands in four years. Throw in the 2011 title won with the same core group and the promise of more to come, and the scale of what the Dubs could actually accomplish is starting to become real."
In the Mail On Sunday, John O'Mahony, a two-time All-Ireland-winning manager with Galway, honed in on the obvious talking point: "I didn't think there was any way Clarke could be dropped. In my mind, he was one of the main reasons Mayo had got to the final. Yes, he lost a couple of kick-outs towards the end of the drawn game, but his contribution since taking the jersey in the middle of summer had made him a certainty for an All Star in my eyes. I still believe he should win the All Star. While the decision was hard on Clarke, it was also hard on Hennelly. He hadn't played since the Galway defeat on June 18 and he was flung into the white-hot cauldron of Croke Park. No wonder he looked nervous early on. I heard that Clarke gave a team talk in the hotel on Friday night, but he should have started yesterday evening. That was clear when he came on and it will be a decision that will be debated long into winter out west."
In the same publication Shane McGrath puts this Dublin vintage up with the very best: "It will be argued that the Dublin players of this generation, with their four All-Irelands in six seasons, their second in 12 months, do not measure up to the heroes of yore. They are arguments to kindle rows and sustain conversations as winter tucks itself around the island like a duvet. All of the evidence, though, points towards this being the finest manifestation yet of Dublin football. They have won matches stylishly but their finals have been penances rather than processions. This one fits that classification too, but there is no truer measure of character than surviving an evening like this one."
And Will Slattery in the Irish Independent pinpoints the introduction of Cormac Costello as the change that swung the game: "Dublin may have lifted the Sam Maguire, outlasting Mayo by 1-15 to 1-14, but they did so despite poor seasons from established stars like Bernard Brogan and Paul Flynn, while the scores also dried up for Diarmuid Connolly and Ciaran Kilkenny during their two-match battle with the westerners. Midway through the second half, Gavin trusted that Costello had learned the lessons of 2014. He exploded off the bench and kicked two key scores almost immediately. He was direct and clinical - something that couldn't be said of Dublin's starting forwards bar Kevin McManamon. Then when Mayo roared back into the game, Costello put Dublin two up with another crucial score. It is a testament to Dublin's strength in depth that a player hovering on the periphery was able to step up in such a crucial moment and swing the balance of play."
