Mayo are one step away from Sam Maguire.
Mayo have reached the All-Ireland Final after a pulsating extra time victory over Dublin at Croke Park.
The match finished 0-13 apiece at the end of normal time, with Mayo outscoring Dublin by nine points to three in an amazing second half performance.
At half-time, it looked like the Green and Red were destined for more All-Ireland heartbreak with The Dubs up 0-10 to 0-04 at the break.
Is there a way back for Mayo in this game?#DUBvMAYO
— Pundit Arena (@PunditArena) August 14, 2021
Mayo bury Dublin demons.
James Horan’s men came out of the blocks in the second half though and goalkeeper Rob Hennelly’s free kick in the dying seconds sent the game to extra time.
Dublin didn’t score at all during the supplementary periods, with Tommy Conroy hitting two over for Mayo.
Darren Coen and Ryan O’Donoghue put them out of sight and the final whistle was met with delirious scenes at Croke Park as Dublin suffered their first Championship defeat since August 2014, a whole 45 matches ago.
Padraig O’Hora was Man of the Match for Mayo.
Afterwards, a visibly shaking Padraig O’Hora spelled out what the victory meant to Mayo as he picked up his Man of the Match award.
“It’s impossible to put it into words,” he said. “I can’t describe it, it’s unbelievable. It’s the best day of my life.
“We love a battle. We always put ourselves at the bottom of a hill before we go climbing it. It’s an outrageous squad and we turned them over like we planned to.”
"Look at this place… it's the best day of my life" – An emotional Padraig O'Hora is named man of the match after an epic Mayo performance #RTEgaa pic.twitter.com/WlthukIWxD
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 14, 2021
Mayo look to end long wait for glory.
Mayo will head into the All-Ireland Final on September 4th looking to end a 70-year wait for the Sam Maguire Cup.
The county have lost 10 finals in the past 32 years, with four of those defeats coming at the hands of Dublin.
There remains some uncertainty as to who Mayo’s opponents will be, with Tyrone GAA confirming earlier that they will pull out of their semi-final against Kerry unless they are given more time to recover from a Covid outbreak in the squad.
Whatever happens, for the first time since Kerry’s success in 2014, a name other than Dublin will be etched onto the most famous trophy in Gaelic Football.
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