Dublin's Kevin McManamon and Mayo's Aidan O'Shea fight for the ball in the All-Ireland final replay at Croke Park

Defending champions Dublin held out a strong Mayo side to claim their 26th All-Ireland title by a single point, winning 1-15 to 1-14.

Manager Jim Gavin, celebrating his fourth anniversary of becoming manager, expertly used the strength in depth of his panel with some great substitutions to withstand a brave Mayo fight under the floodlights of Croke Park.

Dublin captain Stephen Cluxton lifts the All-Ireland Football Championship trophy after beating Mayo at Croke Park Dublin captain Stephen Cluxton lifts the All-Ireland Football Championship trophy after beating Mayo at Croke Park

The victory earned Dublin back-to-back All-Ireland titles and confirmed their status as one of the best sides of the last 20 years but for Mayo, it's the third time in five years they have lost a final by a single point and their quest for Sam Maguire will go into a 66th year.

Bernard Brogan and Dean Rock give their thoughts after Dublin clinch the All-Ireland Football final against Mayo Bernard Brogan and Dean Rock give their thoughts after Dublin clinch the All-Ireland Football final against Mayo

Both teams made changes to their named side, with Mayo surprisingly replacing goalkeeper David Clarke with Robert Hennelly.

It was a cruel blow for Clarke, who made a number of fine saves in the first game.

However, Hennelly was shown a black card after failing to catch a short ball in and giving away a penalty in the 40th minute when he pulled down Paddy Andrews who looked certain to score.

Clarke came on and his first bit of action was to pick out Diarmuid Connolly's penalty from the back of his net.

Diarmuid Connolly scores a penalty past David Clarke of Mayo during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final Replay

For Dublin, Jim Gavin dropped Bernard Brogan, Michael Darragh Macauley and David Byrne, starting with Michael Fitzsimons, Paul Mannion and Paddy Andrews instead.

With the defending champions going in at the break 0-10 to 1-9 up, referee Maurice Deegan was the one who needed the break more than anyone as the game threatened to boil over on a number of occasions. In first-half injury time, there was an occasion where three different on-field arguments were going on at the same time.

Deegan could have handed out numerous black cards but otherwise allowed the game to flow as best he could.

One man who did get a black card from the Laois official was Keegan. The goalscorer was carded for needlessly pulling back Connolly just before half-time. This was a massive loss to the Connacht side, especially as Keegan scored the opening goal in the 18th minute.

The Westport player raced away from Connolly and collected a good pass by O'Shea before drilling the ball by Cluxton into the bottom left hand corner.

Lee Keegan of Mayo celebrates after scoring Mayo's goal during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final replay

That goal put them into the lead for the first time in the game as Dublin started brightly and were 0-4 to no-score up after five minutes.

Dean Rock had a day to forget two weeks ago but he was back to his best and scored three quick scores to add to Kevin McMamamon's point but Mayo responded well through Patrick Durcan, Cillian O'Connor (2) and Andy Moran to level the game.

Dublin's John Small was lucky to not get a black card for pulling back Moran and Mayo supporters will query the consistency in which black cards were handed out.

Rock had scored five of Dublin's six scores by the time Keegan got his goal and things got worse for the champions when Jonny Cooper was black carded. This was just after Mayo scored their goal and the Connacht side were attacking Dublin's defence with pace and great frequency.

However, they overplayed the ball once or twice in this period and Dublin clawed their way back into it with a magnificent point from Connolly to make it 0-9 to 1-5 in the 33rd minute.

The game turned when Keegan brought down Connolly and was black carded. This allowed Connolly more freedom but injury time in the first half was mainly taken up with outbreaks of fighting. Connolly, Donal Vaughan and John Small all got yellow cards and as the players ran in at half-time, most in Croke Park expected to see some tussles heading down the tunnel. Much to Deegan's relief that didn't take place.

Dublin and Mayo players tussle during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final Replay.

Mayo scored two quick frees to put themselves into the lead but then Hennelly had his moment to forget and with five minutes played in the second half, Dublin were winning 1-11 to 1-8.

The Mayo players looked exhausted going into the final 15 minutes but they were still only two points behind.

Dublin substitute Cormac Costello came on and scored three great points, as well as Brogan who pointed within 10 minutes of coming on.

Dublin's Kevin McManamon and Mayo's Aidan O'Shea fight for the ball in the All-Ireland final replay at Croke Park

Mayo got the deficit back to a point on two occasions in the last 10 minutes as Dublin went 12 minutes without scoring but Costello got his third point in the 71st minute. However, six minutes of injury time had to be played and in the 74th minute, O'Connor slotted over a free to make it a one-point game again.

The Ballintubber forward then had a great opportunity to force the game into extra-time but his free, about 40 yards out on the left hand side, agonisingly sailed to the left and wide, much to the delight of the Dubs on Hill 16.

It will haunt O'Connor for a long time but his 0-9 from frees were one of the main reasons Mayo still had hope in this game right up to the death.

The Dublin team celebrate with the Sam Maguire cup after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final replay

For Dublin, they claim back-to-back All-Ireland's for the first time since 1977 and they are the first team to achieve this since Kerry in 2006 and 2007. They are now 11 All-Ireland titles behind their Munster rivals and will hope that number continues to shrink in the next few years.

Dublin: Stephen Cluxton; Michael Fitzsimons, Philly McMahon, Jonny Cooper, James McCarthy, Cian O'Sullivan, John Small, Brian Fenton, Paul Flynn, Ciaran Kilkenny, Kevin McManamon 0-1, Diarmuid Connolly 1-1, Paul Mannion, Dean Rock 0-9 (7 frees), Paddy Andrews.

Subs: David Byrne for Jonny Cooper (21, black card), Bernard Brogan(0-1) for Paddy Andrews (47), Michael Darragh Macauley for Paul Mannion (52), Cormac Costello (0-3) for kevin McManamon (56), Eric Lowndes for John Small (60), Darren Daly for Cian O'Sullivan (72).

Mayo: Robert Hennelly, Brendan Harrison, Donal Vaughan, Keith Higgins, Lee Keegan (1-0), Colm Boyle, Patrick Durcan (0-2), Seamus O'Shea, Tom Parsons, Kevin McLoughlin (0-1), Aidan O'Shea, Diarmuid O'Connor (0-1), Jason Doherty; Andy Moran (0-1), Cillian O'Connor 0-9 (9 frees).

Subs: Stephen Coen for Lee Keegan (35, black card), Barry Moran for Tom Parsons (35+8 -blood sub), Conor O'Shea for Donal Vaughan (HT), David Clarke for Robert Hennelly (41, black card), Barry Moran for Andy Moran (55), Alan Dillon for Jason Doherty (60), Chris Barrett for Colm Boyle (71).

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois).</s>Mayo were aiming to win their first All-Ireland football title since 1951

Mayo's 65-year wait for an All-Ireland Senior Football title goes on after holders Dublin edged a 1-15 to 1-14 win in the final replay at Croke Park.

The key moment was a fumble by Mayo keeper Robert Hennelly early in the second half which gifted Dublin a penalty scored by Diarmuid Connolly.

Hennelly was a late inclusion in place of David Clarke but the move backfired.

Deep in injury-time, Cillian O'Connor missed a difficult free which would have levelled the scores.

Lee Keegan's goal put Mayo ahead midway through the first period but Dublin regrouped to lead 0-10 to 1-6 by half-time.

Hennelly struggled badly with his kick-outs early on with one of his misdirected clearances leading to the black carding of the influential Keegan late in the first half in what was a huge blow for the Connacht county.

Earlier, Dublin's Jonny Cooper was also black carded and a number other players from both sides - notably Dublin's John Small - were fortunate not to suffer the same fate.

In the end, Dublin's stronger bench proved decisive as Cormac Costello came on to kick the champions' three final scores from play.

Cillian O'Connor's ninth point of the contest left the minimum between the teams with three minutes of injury-time left but the Mayo free-taker then missed a high-pressure free from 40 metres which would have levelled the scores again.

Mayo were suffering a fifth All-Ireland final defeat in 12 years

As Dublin celebrated back-to-back titles for the first time since the county's triumphs in 1976 and '77, Mayo's players looked crestfallen as they attempted to come to terms with a fifth All-Ireland final defeat in 12 years.

With Hennelly struggling to pick out team-mates from his kick-outs, Dublin moved into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead by the sixth minute which included three Dean Rock points - two of which were from play.

But Mayo were on terms within six minutes after a run of four points started by Patrick Durcan's superb point.

Two Rock frees edged Dublin ahead again but Mayo were suddenly in the lead as the over-lapping Keegan took a perfectly weighted pass from Aidan O'Shea before hammering past Stephen Cluxton from 14 yards.

Cooper's black carding moments later for a hand trip appeared a further boost for Mayo but the Dubs outscored them 0-4 to 0-2 during the remainder of the first period to lead 0-10 to 1-6 at the break.

Mayo regained the lead within two minutes of the restart but were soon three in arrears after another Rock free was followed by Hennelly's howler as he was forced to concede a penalty after spilling a harmless looking ball, with his inevitable black carding followed by Connolly superbly stroking past Clarke.

Mayo cut Dublin's lead to the minimum on four occasions during the remaining half hour of action but their habitual woes of errant shooting and a lack of composure prevented them from getting on terms.

Once again, Aidan O'Shea was not the force that Mayo would have hoped for despite his good work for their first-half goal.

Mayo: R Hennelly, B Harrison, D Vaughan, K Higgins, L Keegan, C Boyle, P Durcan, S O'Shea, T Parsons, K McLoughlin, A O'Shea, D O'Connor, J Doherty. A Moran, C O'Connor.

Dublin: S Cluxton; P McMahon, J Cooper, M Fitzsimons; J McCarthy, C O'Sullivan, J Small; B Fenton, P Mannion; P Flynn, K McManamon, C Kilkenny; D Rock, D Connolly, B Brogan.</s>Behold the Invincibles. The Rising centenary has been marked by the city football team. Dublin started and finished the year as All-Ireland football champions and did not lose a single match in league or championship. What a game.

The 2016 championship, that big, sprawling beast of a tournament came down to single heart-stopping moment and on its closing sound – a sustained note of Dublin ecstasy – it served out measures of heaven and heartbreak in its usual impartial way. To the victor – to Dublin: everything. To Mayo: an ocean of tears.

It finished 1-15 to 1-14: just a single kick divided these extraordinarily deep teams but by the final whistle the counties might as well have existed in different solar systems.

Just like the draw, this match was a trip into the elsewhere. An 85-minute encounter full of wildness, packed with mistakes and strange moments and ending with the endlessly cruel sight of Cillian O’Connor, Mayo’s captain and the man who brought the teams back here, curling a difficult free just short of the post on the Hill 16 end of the stadium.

Did Mayo deserve a draw and an extended shot for glory through extra time? Possibly. But would that added period merely have prolonged the ultimate agony? Probably. Yet again, Mayo could not kick and think their way into the open country of a lead in this second half and were constantly chasing scores, chasing Dublin runners and, at last, chasing ghosts in those last unbearable moments. Because Dublin just kept on coming, from minute one until minute last. They didn’t yield and they knew they had more answers, more options: more scorers.

“What is pleasing about this result is that they went at it,” reflected Jim Gavin after the Sam Maguire had been raised and the city went into Saturday night fever mode.

“They drove harder at Mayo and met a very resilient Mayo team and just got over the line. They deserved nothing. They had to go out and earn it and I thought they did that today. I saw Keith Higgins there at the end and you couldn’t but have respect and admiration for that man and his players. But I am just happy the cup is back in Dublin tonight.”

So the championship ended as many predicted, with Gavin’s dauntlessly brilliant and tough city team reclaiming their title and claiming their place among the teams shaded by various decades of history.

Yes, Philip Lynott’s voice rung out across the north inner city as the sun fell across the rooftops but the 1970s gang – Kevin Heffernan’s be-flared and long-haired heroes – have good company in this millennial generation.

The old cliché applied: Dublin’s quality of reserves is endless. Cormac Costello, seemingly a peripheral figure in Gavin’s imagination all summer, trotted into the bedlam of a chaotic All-Ireland final and contributed a tidy 0-3. Bernard Brogan, held in reserve here, fired a warning point upon his introduction. Those four scores from play exceeded the total from play concocted by Mayo’s starting front six. Winning an All-Ireland final with a forward unit scoring just 0-3 from play is an exceedingly tough task. And it didn’t happen: yet another single, tortuous one-point defeat for Mayo’s masses to dream about through another long, deep winter.

Starring in one of the great All-Ireland contests is no consolation to Mayo but for the rest of the country, this was exceptional sport. The mind games began around four o’clock. Word around the capital was that Cillian O’Connor was a major doubt for the game, having rolled his ankle on a Friday night run around. Shortly before kick-off, it was confirmed that Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly would replace David Clarke, the Ballina veteran who had been enjoying an All-Star calibre season. The presumption was that Hennelly had been called up because of his Howitzer capability with long-range frees. Logic dictated that he would kick them because of O’Connor’s injury. But that never happened. The Mayo captain started and kicked 0-8 from placed balls. Gavin, meantime, shuffled the cards, with Brogan, Michael Darragh Macauley and David Byrne all hooked from the starting 15. Paul Mannion, Paddy Andrews and Michael Fitzsimons were the three incoming players. Of all the changes, however, Mayo’s proved calamitous.

It was obvious after 20 minutes that whatever the rationale behind the Mayo’s goalkeeper swap, it backfired spectacularly. Hennelly, facing the notorious Dublin press on his kick-outs, struggled to find green and red shirts throughout the first half and then delivered a short kick-out just before half-time which led to a turnover and a foul on Connolly by his alter-ego Lee Keegan. The local crowd bayed. Maurice Deegan called the Mayo man over and issued a black card.

The decision cost Mayo their best player and that card proved to be the closing act in the riveting private duel between Connolly and Keegan. For the previous half hour, the pair had been locked into their own world, Keegan shadowing Connolly and watching him obsessively, the Vincent’s man unable to buy a yard of space. There was no talk, just move and counter-move.

Then, in the 18th minute, Keegan had the impetuosity to break forward, tearing into a gap created by a brilliant pivot-turn by Aidan O’Shea, who took possession and turned inside Cian O’Sullivan in one movement. Keegan took the ball at full stride and with James McCarthy and Brian Fenton converging fired a beautiful bullet of a shot past Stephen Cluxton’s right hand.

It was a goal Mayo desperately needed: the aesthete in Connolly might have privately admired it. The competitor in him was livid. His response? To post up on the edge of Mayo’s square, coming out on the turn to meet a low ball and belting an outrageous point with his right foot. The sequence of play was the apex of a duel which was so compelling in that it was threatening to overshadow the final itself. But the card intervened. It looked like an iffy call but Stephen Rochford declined to criticise it afterwards.

“On Maurice Deegan’s angle, I am sure he thought it was a pull down. In fairness, Dublin lost Jonny Cooper. I am not going to be hypocritical and get into a conversation about the referees. They are in a tough position. The margins are tight, like. There is nothing easy in any of the officials and I thought in fairness to Maurice he did as good a job as anyone.”

Deegan is a fine, experienced referee but at times here he resembled a mild-mannered barman trying to cope with a thirsty gang of Hell’s Angels at last orders. Some of his calls were fussy while elsewhere, the exchanges were loose and furious. Cooper found himself black carded minutes after he was poleaxed by a Mayo player following Keegan’s goal. He must have wondered at the justice in that.

The match was level at 0-11 to 1-8 when poor Hennelly’s miserable day was made complete when he dropped a ball he has caught a million times, which resulted in his black card foul on Andrews and a penalty which Connolly fired past Clarke seconds after he had fastened his gloves. In a contest of incredibly fine margins, Mayo had somehow managed to gift Dublin with another goal that was arguably more damaging than the two freak scores they conceded in the drawn match.

“We did our analysis with Dublin and they were pushing four guys inside and were trying to cut off our short kick-out and were getting more reward off that,” Rochford said of the reason for the goalkeeping change.

“We felt that was something they were going to maximise further and Robbie’s kick-out gave us more length and option.”

Connolly later made light of the immense pressure of his penalty kick.

“Just take a breath. Put it in the corner. And walk away. That’s all it is, you know,” he said with a grin afterwards before summing up Dublin’s attitude to this season.

“We weren’t going to defend the Sam Maguire, we were going to attack it and try and win it.”

And they did that in abundance, fearless in the way they steamed through the centre of Mayo’s defence in those gripping, draining last 10 minutes and keeping their noses in front. Somehow the challengers stayed in touch through instinct and muscle-memory: a thunderous point from the blue by the wonderful Patrick Durcan, another neat effort from Kevin McLoughlin.

It was enough to keep the collective Mayo dream alive – right until the very second when it was all over and Dublin joy spread across the field, across the city.

“You know, the majority of that group have been in four All-Ireland finals and three defeats,” Rochford said of his players.

“They are very crestfallen. Devastated. You don’t put the last nine or 10 months of your life into an intercounty scene to get absolute dejection. I couldn’t be prouder of them. We had a free there to draw and we could still be out there looking at them playing. We will see how we regroup.”

Dublin will rightly be favourites to become the first football team to win three All-Ireland titles in a row since Kerry in the mid 80s. And needless to say Mayo, faraway and so close, will return as obstacles in chief next year. You would say that this has become unbearable for Mayo – except that it reached that stage many years ago.

Jim Gavin should permit himself a bow. These are rare times for city football, auld and new.</s>Imagine, so, the scene across Mayo on Friday morning, the last sun of September not fully risen over the gridlocked commuter sprawl of the Bangor-Erris freeway or over the i-podded morning joggers along the Carrowbeg in Westport or the tens of thousands of homes caught in the morning school rush; the whoops in the factory canteens of Castlebar or the gossip in the dining room of the Downhill Hotel and see Paddy Prendergast nodding over the morning coffee down in his home in Tralee when, on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland radio show comes a Kerry voice with a slow, lilting but crystal clear prediction that Sam Maguire “might be heading West tomorrow night”.

The old county must have stopped in its tracks for that second. This wasn’t from a meaningless source: this was Kerry’s Tomás Ó Sé declaring his belief in Mayo; the same Ó Sé who, as a marauding wing back, had been one of the instigators-in-chief of Mayo’s very worst All-Ireland final day-mares in 2004 and 2006.

This was one of the Kerry men who had witnessed up close the effect of the eviscerating heat of All-Ireland expectation can have on Mayo football players.

And here he was, on the national airwaves no less, admitting he could see it, the whole mad bloody carnival heading for the plains with the big silver cup in possession. A county liberated and understandably at a loss as to how to handle it all.

Mayo supporters have gone to Dublin for All-Irelands with an impressive arsenal of psychological tools required to cope with losing. But has any Mayo supporter even vaguely steeled themselves against the consequences of winning tonight?

It was significant that Ó Sé didn’t mention Mayo by name in his clinching line: it was the articulation of a general vision– a vague green and red bolt of ecstasy headed west – which native football supporters have learned through bitter experience to suppress and keep to the margins of their minds.

The easy and safe thing for any of the ex-boys of summer who have moved on to the broadcast booths is to advise a probable win for Dublin. The generally observed point about the All-Ireland champions is beyond any reasonable doubt: they will play better than they did in the drawn game. Their qualities have been lauded so often that even the dogs can recite them.

But perhaps the Dublin quality least cited is the most important. They despise not winning. Since 2011, they have developed the mindset common to all habitual champions. Their flinty composure in the crucial minutes of big games has become accepted as fact. So it would be easier and arguably smarter to offer plaudits to Mayo while predicting that the Dubs will edge it.

But one of the many intriguing elements of this replay has been the stark divide it has brought about between rationalists and those who go with impulse and instinct. All the arguments based on Dublin winning are founded on the reliability of their form line as champions: their consistent ability to produce performances which have sometimes obliterated the morale of other teams and, for the last three years, have produced an overwhelming percentage of wins. The basis for believing in a Dublin win is predicated on their doing what they do.

The basis for believing in a Mayo win is based more on a feeling – that they might be about to do what no Mayo team has managed since the year that Dr Noel Browne resigned his seat; since The Catcher in the Rye was first published; since Bobby Thomson hit his home run in the Polo Grounds; since Enda Kenny was born. Predicting that Mayo are going to win requires a leap of faith.

And that, of course, harks back to 1989, when this All-Ireland odyssey really began and John O’Mahony, Mayo’s manager, kept telling people to “keep the faith” once the excitement began to go off the charts. It became a mantra in the following decades.

Keep the faith. But who did, as the big-day losses began to accumulate? Even if you take it as read that the there has been nothing mythical or fateful about each of Mayo’s All-Ireland defeats – that those Mayo teams happened to encounter teams that were sometimes marginally or sometimes majorly better – who has, beyond whatever team was in the dressing room, travelled to see Mayo play All-Ireland finals in a state of true optimism?

So much of the pressure is on the Dublin team this evening. They are not so much expected as obliged to click into the beautiful monster role, dominating the field with their swift, expansive attacking football and their athleticism and their collective self-belief.

The demand for a return to that form has been insistent in the fortnight since the replay. It overlooks the fact that the Dubs went out in the drawn match fully intent on giving just that performance. For whatever reason, it didn’t happen. The general presumption that it will happen automatically this time around contains its own pressures. And it implies a kind of acquiescence from Mayo: that the challengers accept the theory that their best chance has already passed.

Maybe it is true that previous Mayo teams flattered to deceive. There is rarely a summer when they don’t look good; when they don’t catch the eye. This crowd is different. When he was chatting with the Second Captains team, Mike Quirke said he felt that if some Mayo forward could do something “mad” and go kick 0-4, then he had a feeling it could be a famous day. Paul Galvin has also gone on record to say that he saw something in Mayo in the draw that made him believe.

Maybe this is just Kerry shamanism: Kingdom men willing themselves to believe in any alternative to a GAA world coloured sky blue; Dublin brilliance confirmed and more to come.

But maybe it comes down to the more prosaic and genuine belief that all Mayo people on their way to the city this morning or watching in London or Chi- cargo are going to have to confront before throw-in at five o’clock: that this time they have a team that’s good enough. In an odd way, there is no pressure on Mayo because if their team loses, then nobody will be surprised because, well, that’s what is supposed to happen.

Until, of course, the day comes that it doesn’t. After the decades of talk about some magical September, it would take Mayo to end this thing in October.

Two teams left standing, then, and a 70-minute wormhole between Mayo and that other place. Before they dive in, they should allow themselves to think about what the world – or the parts of it named Swinford, Foxford, Toormakeady etc – might be like by seven o’clock tonight, on the other side of it.</s>Once more unto the breach as the fans of Dublin and Mayo travel to Croke Park with trepidation and hope in equal measure.

Once again there is not a seat to be had and two corporate tickets on eBay had risen to €8,100 for the pair and had attracted 35 bids at the time of writing.

The consensus is that Dublin left it behind them the last day. So did Mayo. Dublin can play better; so can Mayo. It is hard to separate the teams and the weather might not be very different.

The final was played in wet conditions, the forecast for the replay is not dissimilar with a showery afternoon in prospect.

For Dublin it is the goal of two in a row. For Mayo it will be the eighth final since the last time they won in 1951.

Undaunted by this seemingly eternal wait, Mayo’s superfans will still travel en masse.

Among the vast Mayo diaspora to dig deep is John Gardiner Jr, a native of Birmingham with Mayo parents, who has spent €25,000 following Mayo over the last six years. He missed the All-Ireland semi-final against Tipperary as his infant son Willie Joe (named after former Mayo All Star Willie Joe Padden, who else?) became ill.

The figure for this year is €4,000 and counting. He jokes that The Auld Triangle, a watering hole on the way to Croke Park, is now his local. He will be there again today.

“My wife is long suffering but she knows we are all on the chase for the holy grail, the Sam Maguire. I will be able to die a happy man though I’m only 35 years of age.”

Much closer to home the McAuley-McDonald family in Cabra have only a short walk to Croke Park. Their home in Broomridge Road is a shrine to the Dubs. You can hardly miss the light blue and navy streamers and the replica of the Sam Maguire on top of the porch.

Rosemary McAuley (50), her husband and four of her adult children will be in Croke Park.

There are just two survivors of the Mayo team that won the All-Ireland final in 1951. Paddy Prendergast was the full-back on that fabled team, and he has no time for loose talk about the fabled curse that has dogged the county since 1951. What would he do if Mayo finally won Sam after all these years?

“I would die happy. That’s all I can say,” he told Irish TV.</s>Mayo have named an unchanged team for Saturday’s All-Ireland final replay against Dublin in Croke Park.

Mayo prepare to do battle with the reigning champions for the fourth time in a championship game in just over 12 months, and manager Stephen Rochford has resisted the urge to make any changes after his team’s hard fought draw two weeks’ ago.

Cillian O’Connor was the man who stepped up and converted a late point to seal that draw, and he will again lead his team out this weekend.

Saturday will see three time All-star Keith Higgins make his 125th Mayo appearance having made his debut against Dublin back in 2005.</s>1: Robert Hennelly is straightaway walking on thin ice: Come throw-in, the dogs on Jones’ Road knew Mayo were swapping goalkeepers, Hennelly starting instead of David Clarke, and Dublin quickly test that bold and somewhat bizarre decision. Dean Rock scores two from play, then a Hennelly kick-out is won by Kevin McManamon and sent straight back between the posts, helping Dublin go four points clear before Mayo have had a single attack. Mayo soon manage to claw those four points back, to level up after 13 minutes, yet Hennelly’s confidence has clearly been chipped at. How badly though?

2: Mayo then ask the first big question of Dublin: After 18 minutes, Aidan O’Shea collects a ball on the 45m line, spins away from Cian O’Sullivan, and out of nowhere comes Lee Keegan to fetch the ball and with that score a stunning goal, shooting low and just perfectly left past the helpless Stephen Cluxton. Minutes later, Jonny Cooper is black-carded for blatantly dragging down Donie Vaughan, and so Dublin lose their best defender from the drawn game. Now trailling Mayo 1-7 t 0-6, the All-Ireland champions need to call on all their nerve and experience. Can they?

3: Key play-maker Lee Keegan is black-carded for Mayo: Referee Maurice Deegan is letting nothing go, although his inconsistency with the black card is most glaring. Dublin’s John Small is one man lucky to be still on the field, but after another confusing kick-out from Hennelly, Keegan is seen to pull down on Diarmuid Connolly, not to the ground it seems, but enough to earn a black card nonetheless. Another massive psychological blow to Mayo, another fillip in Dublin’s game, then not long into the second half, Hennelly’s confidence cracks completely, when he fumbles a short ball from Paul Flynn, and with that pulls down Paddy Andrews, earning himself a black-card. Diarmuid Connolly buries the penalty, and now Mayo have another small mountain to climb, trailing 1-11 to 1-8. Can they rise to it?

4: On and up steps Cormac Costello. Mayo have that mountain climbed it seems, back to a one-point game, Dublin up 1-12 to 1-11, thanks to a massive points from Patrick Durcan, and apparently Mayo have the momentum too. Only on 58 minutes, Mick Fitzsimons makes another brilliant intervention in the Dublin defence, and with that sets up Costello for his first of three majestic left-footers over the bar, having come on for McManamon. His second point comes less than a minute later, and Dublin are three up, leaving Mayo with their backs to wall once again. Can they stick them there?

5: The last-chance equalising free for Mayo goes wide. So, six minutes of added time announced, Dublin up by two, and Mayo knowing they need something special. Cillian O’Connor has been playing a captain’s role all evening, and when Barry Moran is fouled, makes no mistake with the free, his now ninth in all. What next? Dublin have a chance to go two clear, only for Bernard Brogan’s shot to be blocked down, which leaves time for one last chance for Mayo. It comes with another free, about 35m out, but noticeably left of the posts. Time is effectively up, 76 minutes on the clock, and up steps O’Connor, a little hastily perhaps, yet moments after the ball leaves his boot it’s clearly drifting left and wide. Deegan actually plays on for another minute but Dublin hold up possession before their back-to-back All-Ireland winning whistle is blown.</s>After the drawn All-Ireland final I couldn’t help wondering about Dublin. They have been on the road now for a long time, demolishing so many opponents, that maybe it is catching up with them.

The Dubs success is largely dependent on a high-intensity running game, sustained relentlessly over 70-plus minutes, seemingly unbreakable due to the introduction of subs that all teams, including Kerry, have been unable to cope with. That enduring pace has been their chief weapon. But after the draw I felt Mayo had become the exception to Dublin rule. They are clearly capable of matching their intensity.

What the game also told me is the new generation of Dublin footballers – Brian Fenton David Byrne and particularly Ciarán Kilkenny – have, despite their young age, become central figures in Jim Gavin’s team.

Kilkenny has made himself the go-to player, he sets up the plays now, dictates the tempo, especially at wing back when James McCarthy has been absent. It is not the usual Dublin rhythm though.

Mayo managed Kilkenny quite well by forcing him laterally instead of allowing him to orchestrate the direct, offensive strategy we associate with Dublin.

Bernard Brogan is suffering the most. The slower more predictable ball inside allowed Brendan Harrison, who had a fine game, get to grips with Bernard.

Maybe Brogan, Paul Flynn and particularly Michael Darragh Macauley are showing the effects of many long hard years at the top. They are certainly not the three influential footballers we have seen in other campaigns.

So I’m leaning towards Mayo. I just feel they are in a better place mentally. They can justifiably believe they were the superior team over 78 minutes of the draw. They can take heart from how they responded at the end, especially Cillian O’Connor’s three unanswered points to reel Dublin back in. And that was them playing it safe, without committing players forward as they adhered to a solid defensive structure.

On review they should see that was where their opportunity to win fell away.

Both teams will be annoyed with the number of unforced errors. The weather can be blamed but both defences were firmly in control. Just look at the amount of scoreless forwards from Bernard Brogan and Kevin McManamon to Aidan O’Shea and Diarmuid O’Connor.

Dublin’s full-back line was brilliantly protected by Cian O’Sullivan. Apart from Andy Moran’s goal chance, they looked impenetrable.

Diarmuid looked tired after a long season that included the under-21s campaign. If he finds his form Mayo will profit immensely.

All this leads to Mayo creating shooting chances further out the field. They must show more composure, recycle that extra ball to create clear-cut opportunities. This requires patience and leadership.

An improved Aidan O’Shea performance remains crucial if Mayo are to finally win the All-Ireland. O’Shea is capable of being an inspirational leader. He was anything but 13 days ago. The solution, to my mind, is his role must be clearly defined. He is most effective switching predominantly from centre forward into full forward. When he drifts out the field he becomes a potential liability that can be exposed by Dublin’s pace.

Aidan didn’t lead the last day and even became agitated with the referee when a few calls didn’t go his way. That’s energy sapping behaviour that must be eradicated for Mayo to benefit from his enormous power.

That is how Dublin can be exposed but Stephen Rochford must also devise a plan to track Fenton’s incisive runs from midfield. Because that’s how Dublin will create a goal. The Mayo midfielders lack pace to stay with him so Kevin McLoughlin or even Donal Vaughan may need to pick him up.

Diarmuid Connolly is of similar importance. I could see Connolly best serving Dublin as an inside forward. Drag Lee Keegan out of his comfort zone at wing back. The reverse argument is that Keegan needs to contribute to Mayo moving forward. Perhaps both these tactical switches will happen and the pair will part ways.

But if Dublin’s running game isn’t checked, as Mayo did before, then Fenton, Small, James McCarthy and Connolly will bring the Dubs pattern – or as Gavin calls it: the process – to bear on this contest. We know they can dismantle any team.

It is the rhythm of Dublin that must be disrupted. Because all that passing over the shoulder at pace leads to frees within Dean Rock’s previously unerring range. If Rock rediscovers the accuracy we had seen all summer then Dublin can pull away.

Surely McManamon will have a better day or Paul Mannion, Eoghan O’Gara and Paddy Andrews will prove the difference late in the game.

Yet I’m still leaning towards Mayo. They have shown the work ethic and know-how to finally win that elusive All-Ireland. We know this Dublin team, as they showed when misfiring so badly in the first match, will not release Sam Maguire without a bitter struggle.</s>Disastrous selection. His floating kick outs gifted Dublin at least three points, contributed to Lee Keegan’s black card while his inability to gather a routine high ball and subsequent dragging down of Paddy Andrews saw Diarmuid Connolly rifle the penalty that crushed Mayo’s dream.

Contributed enough to be an All-Ireland winner. What a curse it is. Enormous credit for the early man marking job he did on Paddy Andrews while his second point fell from the heavens

Showed up when Mayo needed a leader to drive them forward but Dean Rock had the better of him and landed two in the opening six minutes. It could have been 1-1 but Higgins recovered like he always does.

What a talent. Bettered the silencing of Bernard Brogan in the draw by minding Paul Mannion and there was the pick-pocketing of Kevin McManamon at the moment that a goal would have seen a five point chasm opened between the sides.

Blacked carded just before half-time, it’s an unfair place where Mayo footballers exist. Was doing more than keeping tabs on Connolly, who could have been black carded for an earlier incident Maurice Deegan missed, turning his bitter rival into a defender and plundering a magnificent goal.

Absolute warrior for 71 minutes, mixing with any Dub who would have him, combining man marking duties on Kevin McManamon and a ball carrying threat through midfield.

Took over Diarmuid Connolly duties after Keegan walked and was unable to return for the second half after taking heavy punishment including a horrendous dunt when running at the aforementioned man of steel.

Strange to see the eldest O’Shea brother play to the death but he was inspirational during Mayo’s third quarter refusal to wilt. There is a season or two left in those legs yet.

Lacked the pace to beat James McCarthy to a loose ball with a five metre head start. But his one gear did himself or Mayo no shame at all.

Kicked a nice score to ignite Mayo’s second half assault but was lucky to avoid a card of some hue for some wild behaviour in the vicious period of this match. Needed to score more than 0-1, didn’t.

Prototype of the modern footballer. Covered miles of grass switching from sweeper to chief raider, kicking a point on 53 minutes that was vital to stem the leakage following Connolly’s penalty.

Replaced by Alan Dillon on the hour. Didn’t shirk the violent patches and could have been sanctioned but he worked as hard as any man on the field. Problem is Mayo needed a score or two from him to prevail.

Last Mayo man to leave the pitch. Pulled this magnificent, lonely furrow season from a deep well of footballing excellence but that may be it for the 32 year old. Great point after sending Cian O’Sullivan one way then the other.

Not enough. Not from a man of his power, his natural footballing talent. Did glide so cleverly in front of O’Sullivan to set up Lee Keegan's goal but at the end the Dublin defenders swallowed him whole on square’s edge.

On his shoulders Mayo were carried. Ten shots at the posts, nine made it through, the last one faded away. A great footballer but that greatness comes as much from his resilience and desire to win as talent.

Conor O’Shea did well but Alan Dillon couldn’t roll back the years while Barry Moran, possibly, and David Clarke, certainly, should have started. Dublin’s replacements won them the game.</s>What a cruel and wonderful GAA world we live in. Dublin have retained the All-Ireland. The first county to keep Sam Maguire since Kerry in 2007.

There’s so much more: this modern dynasty have now surpassed the great side Kevin Heffernan offered to Hill 16 in the 1970s.

These Dublin boys have four All-Irelands since 2011. Heffo’s unsmiling men only won three.

Sons passing out their fathers. As it should be.

“This is what football is all about,” said Philly McMahon. “Two teams bringing the best out of each other.”

It is football but this was a war.

And another All-Ireland final to haunt Mayo people. The decision by manager Stephen Rochford to drop his No 1 David Clarke from draw to replay back-fired spectacularly.

Come to the 36th minute with us: Diarmuid Connolly is apoplectic.

Screaming at Maurice Deegan. “A card! A ******* card!” Connolly is roaring and gesturing, inches from the referee’s beak. The Stradbally man seemed genuinely frightened. Of course he was nothing of the sort.

Scroll down for more Connolly.

Presumably Deegan has had nightmares about All-Ireland final replays descending into open warfare like this did in a 44 minute first half.

Chaos was only marginally replaced by a marvellous sporting spectacle.

Anyway, Deegan was not afraid to brandish his notebook. Jonny Cooper – with 19 minutes clocked and well on his way to being man of the match – walked for grabbing Donal Vaughan’s ankle.

Dublin under Jim Gavin don’t mess about. David Byrne instantly raced into the fray to ensure Cillian O’Connor didn’t have a blade of grass to himself. Rapid thinking from the Gavin machine.

Poor Lee Keegan. A while before his black card, Keegan took an awful belt from his old pal Connolly that Tyrone linesman Sean Hurson could not have missed. Hurson also saw John Small haul down Andy Moran. We know because he told Deegan about it.

Maybe the referee wanted to see his black cards for himself.

Keegan walked after 35 minutes when another dodgy Hennelly kick out (scroll down for more Hennelly) that Dean Rock, the unerring Dean Rock, broke for the onrushing Connolly.

Keegan dragged him down. Diarmuid went apoplectic as their engrossing mano-a-mano came to a premature conclusion.

Rock brought his tally to 0-8 with his sixth free. Barney’s son was himself again. Almost flawless, finished out with 0-9. Gave Keith Higgins an awful time. Especially after his two scores from play.

The animosity born of familiarity reached a new low here.

But all 82,249 of us loved it.

We should tell you about the game itself, the reel of scores and eventually Deegan’s spray of three yellow cards just before they disappeared under the Hogan stand.

There was even a preamble littered with rumours. Some true, some not.

Bernard Brogan had been dropped for Paddy Andrews while Paul Flynn moved to midfield instead of Michael Darragh MacAuley as Paul Mannion also started. Byrne made way for Michael Fitzsimons, who was superb at corner back and was named man of the match.

All six of them eventually ran about this vast green field.

Most surprising of all was Hennelly in the Mayo goal as Clarke was dropped. Dublin hammered Mayo for his inaccurate kick-outs.

They also started like the juggernaut they are. Rock had 0-3, ignoring a goal opportunity, before Mayo could draw breath while Kevin McManamon dismissed his form from the last day with a typically efficient score.

Mayo were being overrun. Of course they know not how to die. They responded with 0-4 of their own. Cillian O’Connor refused to blink from frees, until he did when it mattered most (scroll down), while Andy Moran turned Cian O’Sullivan inside then out to kick a gorgeous point.

Dublin eased clear again – Rock, always Rock – until Keegan told Connolly he’d be back in a second. The wing back suddenly appeared on Aidan O’Shea’s shoulder, after the otherwise anonymous Breaffy giant got in front of O’Sullivan, to slide a lovely shot into Stephen Cluxton’s right corner.

0-8 to 1-5. All square and pandemonium was promised. You could see it brimming all over the place.

Rock made it 0-10 to 1-5 after Keegan exited the stage. O’Connor kept Mayo apace to leave one between them at the break.

Then Connolly met Donal Vaughan. Connolly clipped him, Vaughan turned and took a run at Connolly. It was like a lorry smashing into a wall. Vaughan didn’t reappear for the second half.

Deegan had his head turned as another mill broke out 50 metres away when Small body slammed himself onto O’Connor.

Deegan talked to his officials before flashing three yellows. Wise decision. The officials needed the break as much as the players.

Mayo came back for the second half possessed with the zeal of champions. Diarmuid followed his brother Cillian onto the score sheet.

Then Flynn lobbed a ball towards Andrews that any intercounty goalkeeper worth his jersey should handle without fuss.

Hennelly dropped it. Not finished yet, Hennelly pulled down Andrews.

Penalty. Black card number three. In came David Clarke but Connolly’s penalty was perfect. Same spot Keegan put his goal.

Dublin by three now.

Of course O’Connor responded for Mayo.

McManamon hared up field and looked certain to deliver one of his Croke Park specials until Brendan Harrison picked his pocket.

Mayo refused to go quietly. Never. After a scoreless nine minutes Kevin McLoughlin pointed. Then Patrick Durcan hit one from the gods.

The champions have ammunition the likes of which Gaelic football has never seen. Cormac Costello came in from the cold to land two quick points.

Dublin by three. 10 minutes to play.

Ball after ball was dropped into Aidan O’Shea but each time he was hounded by blue clad men and disposed.

Mayo had to rely on O’Connor frees as Dublin kept closing the door in their face.

He made it a two-point game as they turned into the home straight.

Through it all Gavin sat serenely in his control chair, occasionally talking into his microphone or Mick Deegan’s ear as the selector raced about with orders.

Flynn gave O’Connor his easiest chance of all when jumping into a throw-up.

All Mayo now. Conor O’Shea, the youngest of the three brothers all out there together, took aim but the ball only found Cluxton’s gloves.

Watching through fingers now, Fitzsimons made a block he knew nothing about to deny McLoughlin.

Dublin kept playing the Dublin way. Byrne put a foot pass across his own defence neatly onto Brian Fenton’s chest.

Just as six minutes of injury time was announced, Costello lashed over his third point despite a Mayo man hanging from him.

Calling Mayo chokers feels wrong. But we saw it again. O’Connor brought it back to the minimum before fate, yet again, the ’51 curse, whatever you like, came back at them.

Costello fouled Patrick Durcan from behind. Free from wide on the left, about 40 metres out.

Dublin survive a thriller as Mayo return to dark rooms in their house of pain.

“This is for everybody,” said Connolly. “Ah, just put it in the corner and walk away. We weren’t going to defend the All-Ireland we were going to attack it and win it.”

This they did.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, P McMahon, J Cooper; J McCarthy, C O’Sullivan, J Small; B Fenton, P Flynn; C Kilkenny, K McManamon (0-1), D Connolly (1-1); P Mannion, D Rock (0-9, seven frees), P Andrews.

Subs: D Byrne for Cooper (21, black card), B Brogan (0-1) for Andrews (47), MD Macauley for Mannion (52), C Costello (0-3) for McManamon (56), E Lowndes for Small (60), D Daly for O’Sullivan (72).

MAYO: R Hennelly, P Durcan (0-2), K Higgins, B Harrison; L Keegan (1-0), C Boyle, D Vaughan; S O’Shea, T Parsons; D O’Connor (0-1), K McLoughlin (0-1), J Doherty; A Moran (0-1), A O’Shea, C O’Connor (0-9 all frees).

Subs: S Coen for Keegan (35+1, black card), B Moran for Parsons (35+8 - h/t, blood), C O’Shea for Vaughan (h/t), D Clarke for Hennelly (41, black card), B Moran for A Moran (55), A Dillon for Doherty (60), C Barrett for Boyle (71).
Dublin defeats Mayo in the 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, retaining the Sam Maguire Cup for the first time since 1977.