Dublin demolish Mayo in majestic first-half display

Dublin went in at the break in front of a large crowd of 13,548 of leading by 2-10 to 0-6 and might well have been even further ahead had they made the most of their goal chances.

There was never a hint of a Mayo comeback in the second-half and only an injury-time free from Kevin McLoughlin prevented this from being their heaviest ever league defeat to Dublin.

It was blanket attack from both sides in a riveting and refreshing encounter but Dublin, unlike Mayo, knew how to defend and built up a big early lead despite going behind to a couple of points from Jason Doherty and Kevin McLoughlin.

But they really took over once Tomas Brady got them off the mark after seven minutes as they hit Mayo for 1-5 in a blistering six-minute spell which left the home side shocked.

Dublin managed to find space all over the pitch and yet get back to smother any real threat from Mayo. Denis Bastick gave them a huge breakthrough when he finished to an empty net after a piledriver from Bernard Brogan came back off the crossbar.

Brady, Ciaran Kilkenny and Jack McCaffrey quickly added points and Dean Rock made it 1-5 to 0-2 after just 13 minutes when he got their first free.

Mayo lifted the siege every so often with Doherty and McLoughlin pointing but Dublin always looked more dangerous going forward and they struck a second goal after Brogan scored, although it seemed that Kevin McMenamon had hopped the ball twice running in.

Early second-half points from McCaffrey and Paul Flynn killed off any hope of a Mayo revival and the pace of the game dropped enormously as Dublin got men behind the ball and just defended their lead.

They still managed to outscore Mayo by double scores in the second-half as they equalled their 14-point record win 21 years ago over the Connacht champions.

Mayo managed just two points from play in the second-half and both of them came from subs Alan Dillon and Danny Kirby as Mayo failed to score a goal in the league for the first time this season.

Scorers - Dublin: D Rock 0-6 (6f), B Brogan 1-1, D Bastick 1-0, T Brady 0-3, C Kilkenny, J McCaffrey 0-2 each, D Connolly, J Cooper, P Flynn, P Ryan 0-1 each. Mayo: J Doherty 0-4 (3f), K McLoughlin 0-3 (1f), M Ronaldson, A Dillon, D Kirby 0-1 each.

Dublin: S Cluxton; P McMahon, R O'Carroll, E Culligan; J Cooper, C O'Sullivan, J McCaffrey; D Bastick, T Brady; P Flynn, D Connolly, C Kilkenny; K McManamon, D Rock, B Brogan. Subs: M Fitzsimons for O'Carroll (35), J Small for Culligan (50), B Fenton for Bastick (59), E O'Gara for Brogan (59), J McCarthy for Brady (61), P Ryan for McMenamon (63).

Mayo: R Hennelly; T Cunniffe, K Keane, K Higgins; C Boyle, L Keegan, P Durcan; S O'Shea, D Vaughan; J Doherty, D O'Connor, K McLoughlin; M Ronaldson, A O'Shea, A Freeman. Subs: D Kirby for Freeman (46), S Coen for Durcan (46), A Dillon for O'Connor (50), M Sweeney for Ronaldson (51), B Moran for S O'Shea (53), G Cafferkey for Vaughan (63).

Referee: P O'Sullivan (Kerry).