Senior footballers advance to league final

DUBLIN 2-16 MAYO 0-16

Dublin will face Tyrone in the Allianz FL Division 1 final following their six point victory over Mayo in Sunday’s semi-final at Croke Park.

Both Dublin goals came in the first half as the recovered from a lacklustre start to assume control against the men from the west.

With the Dubs trailing 0-0 to 0-3 Paul Mannion, following great defence from the influential Ger Brennan, won possession 45 metres from goal before racing past Kevin Keane and slotting the ball to the net from close range.

Mannion, who has starred for the Dubs toward the close of this leage, put in another huge performance to rubber-stamp his recent top class displays.

It was the score the injected live into the Dublin team and with Brennan and Jack McCaffrey driving on their men from the half-back line the Dubs prospered until the interval at what stage they held a 2-9 to 0-8 advantage.

Dublin’s second goal arrived in the 16th minute when debutant Jason Whelan unleashed a ferocious drive to the Mayo net from 14 metres out after being supplied by Paul Flynn with Brennan instigating the move when securing possession at midfield.

But it was far from the Dublin goals that this game was won as Stephen Cluxton once again was a superb last line of defence as he defied a succession of Mayo forwards all afternoon long form close range.

Has the Parnell’s men not been so inspiration Jim Gavin’s men would have had to jump a far more difficult hurdle on their way to reaching a league decider.

But,especially in the opening half, Dublin’s were allowed express themselves with Diarmuid Connolly drifting over three excellent first half points on the way to their seven-point interval lead.

Twice again in the second half Cluxton defied the odds to deny Donal Vaughan and Brian Gallagher but at the other end Dublin could have goaled on two occasions but failed.

SCORERS – Dublin: P Mannion 1-4 (0-1f), B Brogan 0-5 (0-1f), J Whelan 1-1, D Connolly 0-3, S Cluxton (0-1f), D Daly, J McCaffrey 0-1 each. Mayo: C O’Connor 0-8 (0-7f), M Conroy 0-3, A O’Shea 0-2, J Gibbons, K McLoughlin (0-1f), C Carolan 0-1 each.
DUBLIN: S Cluxton; J Cooper, K O’Brien, P McMahon; J McCaffrey, G Brennan, D Daly; MD Macauley, C O’Sullivan; J Whelan, D Connolly, P Flynn; P Mannion, P Andrews, B Brogan. Subs: N Devereux for Daly (47), D Bastick for O’Sullivan (50), B Cullen for Flynn (54), K McManamon for Connolly (56), M Fitzsimons for Cooper (65).
MAYO: D Clarke; G Cafferkey, C Barrett, K Keane; D Vaughan, L Keegan, C Boyle; J Gibbons, S O’Shea; K McLoughlin, A O’Shea, C Carolan; C O’Connor, J Doherty, M Conroy. Subs: R Feeney for Doherty (ht), B Gallagher for Gibbons (45), M Walsh for Keane (45), A Murphy for Carolan (56), E Regan for McLoughlin (65).
REF: J McQuillan (Cavan).
ATT: 24,941.