GAA Digest: Dublin lose out to Mayo in All Ireland semi final

Mayo 0-19 Dublin 0-16

All-Ireland fever has gripped Mayo after James Horan’s storm-troopers blitzed champions Dublin in the semi-final on Sunday by a score of 0-19 to 0-16.

Mayo, 10 points up at one stage, held on for dear life as Dublin staged a late but futile recovery in an intriguing clash at Croke Park.

Donegal are next up for the underdogs from the west in the final, but for now Horan will enjoy the sweet win over the Dubs after the mother of all battles.

He admitted to RTE television, “I’m delighted. We came through a battle today. We lost a few players and a few guys went down with cramp and that but we kept at it.

“Dublin got a run on us in the second half but we just kept going. We kept believing and we got there in the end. We’re delighted to get out of there and we’re already looking forward to the next game now.

“We kept going, got through, even though we made some very basic mistakes. But we showed real character to come through it. We’re delighted with the win.

“Momentum certainly went with them. We seemed to run out of a bit of juice 10 or 15 minutes into the half. They got every breaking ball. They got about eight or nine breaks in a row and that put huge pressure on us. Our backs, in particular, defended superbly.

“There were a lot of goal chances but we kept them all out and that is what won us the game. There were a huge amount of mistakes today but we’ll go away as we always do and work on them and prepare for the next game.”

Horan admitted his nerves were jangling as Dublin came back into the game. He added, “It was torture to be honest with you. Dublin got a run on us in the second half, and we just could not get our hands on the ball for about 15 minutes.

“They won every break and were winning everything in midfield. We just seemed to run out of juice a little bit, and they were coming at us in waves.

“It was last-ditch defending but we managed to keep it out, and we showed great character at the end.”

Donegal will start the All-Ireland final as favorites, but Mayo star Keith Higgins is adamant his team will be ready for the hype.

He stated, “Maybe in other years there might have been more pressure. We will be underdogs and that’s fair enough and we know the task ahead.

“We had a chat in the dressing room and we’ll train Tuesday night. Everyone knows their game plan and style, and they’re hard to break down. That’s what’s ahead of us.”

Higgins also dismissed claims that Mayo panicked when they allowed Dublin back into the game in a frantic final quarter.

He said, “Panic might be too strong a word. We just weren’t winning the balls we were winning in the first half and they were getting chances and creating overlaps.”

Mayo forward Mickey Conroy was also concerned by that spell of Dublin dominance as his team almost threw victory away.

Conroy said, “Everyone tries to get off to a good start, it’s about keeping it going but we let Dublin back into it big time. It’s a big issue we’ll have to look at for the final.

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Nster.com