Here are a few things to think on about Dublin.
In total manager Jim Gavin used 11 forwards between starters and substitutes in Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final rout of Tyrone. None of them was former Footballer of the Year Bernard Brogan.
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Michael Darragh Macauley, another former Footballer of the Year, didn’t get out of the comfy seats in the Hogan Stand either.
Current All Star Diarmuid Connolly was only granted one minute plus stoppage time in his return game following a 12-week suspension.
Manager Jim Gavin clearly didn’t feel it was important to run game-time into his legs before the All-Ireland final.
They did all this without Cormac Costello, who came off the bench in last year’s replayed Sam Maguire decider against Mayo and kicked three crucial points.
He’s fit again following an injury-interrupted season, but he didn’t make the match day squad of 26.
Four-time All Star Paul Flynn came off the bench again and kicked three points from play. It’s an almost nailed on certainty that he won’t be able to force his way into the starting team for the final.
Likewise Eoghan O’Gara, who rattled 1-01 from the bench, and Kevin McManamon, who saw his chance to make an impact as a replacement missed as his goal-bound effort cannoned off the crossbar.
Dublin scored 2-13 of a 2-17 total from play against a team with an ultra-cautious, defensive set-up.
In the 2014 semi-final against Donegal they met a team willing to sit with men behind the ball and they threw hammer after hatchet trying to batter them down.
That stands out as Gavin’s only Championship defeat in almost five full seasons. He learnt his lessons that day and applied them against Tyrone, sending out a patient team that slowly picked apart the Red and County.
He’s a man that looks to be the man holding all the aces.
Socialist TD Joe Higgins once said that asking Dáil questions of then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was like playing handball against a haystack. Post-match press conferences with the Dublin boss are something similar.
But something he did say on Sunday struck a cord: "There were ten players today that didn't get game-time, some of them didn't travel on the team bus and it's hardest on them."
These are all certainly things that Mayo manager Stephen Rochford will be thinking about over the next three weeks before meeting the Boys in Blue in the All-Ireland final.
Many see September 17 as Mayo’s date with destiny; their tenth Championship game of an epic campaign that will end with Sam Maguire for the first time in 66 years. Of course, it’s not going to be anywhere near as simple for them.
Standing in their way are Dublin, a team they haven’t been able to beat in four attempts since the 2012 All-Ireland semi-final.
Granted, they are the team that has come closest to beating them in the last two years, taking them to a draw in the 2015 semi-final and last year’s decider. But ultimately they have left Croke Park empty handed.
Mayo are in the final on merit, as their five-point win over Kerry in Saturday’s semi-final replay more than adequately proved, but they simply haven’t got the same sort of bench as Dublin.
Paddy Durcan has been kept in reserve the last two days and came into the game to make an impact, as well as getting send off for two yellow cards at the weekend. Outside of that though no one has consistently made a splash after being introduced.
Rochford is an out-of-the-box thinker as a manager and some of his tactical innovations have paid off better than others.
He’ll surely have a rabbit to pull out of his hat on the third Sunday in September and it will be fascinating to see how he tackles Dublin’s perceived strengths and areas of superiority.
The fact that Gavin waited until the final minute of normal time to bring on Diarmuid Connolly was instructive.
With his team seven points ahead and Tyrone still refusing to move out of their defensive shell, this game was over as a contest before the break. Some would have thought that this was the perfect time to spring the St Vincent’s man.
He has been a key component in Dublin’s attack for the past half-decade and with less than 70 minutes of Championship action under his belt this season it was an ideal opportunity to give him a run.
Gavin took a different route, bringing Flynn, McManamon, O’Gara and Lowndes into the attack before he turned to Connolly and told him to take off his tracksuit top.
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He trusted in Ciaran Kilkenny to pull the strings with his running from deep and clever passing, and in Con O’Callaghan to do the damage.
After winning an All-Ireland club hurling title with Cuala and an All-Ireland Under-21 title with the Dubs earlier this year he has walked into a three in-a-row chasing senior side like he was born to operate at this level.
He kicked 1-02 before the break when the game was still a contest, including the goal after three minutes that essentially sealed the result as it gave Dublin a three-point lead and Tyrone proved they were either incapable of unwilling of chasing down a lead.
It was O’Callaghan who eventually made way for Connolly, but there’s no danger of handing over his starting jersey to anyone before the All-Ireland final. Connolly may have to join the queue and sit on the bench like so many other big names.
