KEVIN McSTAY was buzzin’ after Mayo waited a dozen years to beat Dublin at home.
Fergal Boland’s last-gasp point banished the Sky Blues at MacHale Park on Saturday night, securing the league holders’ first win over their rivals on Mayo soil since 2012.
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Dublin were in control for large spells of the Castlebar clash but Stephen Coen’s second-half goal threw Mayo a lifeline before Boland secured a 1-12 to 0-14 victory.
Boland hit the target after Ryan O’Donoghue opted not to shoot from a free and passed to the Aghamore man instead.
And delighted McStay admits he would have happily taken a draw before Boland did the business at the death.
He said: “I’m really pleased with the last free, the way Ryan took it. I love that.
“He was clued in, he knows he was never going to get it from that position.
“And he backed himself to make that pass and of course Fergal then fires it over. So that was a bonus point both ways. That was great, I’m so very pleased with that.
“Delighted with the two points anyway, I can tell you that. I’d have taken one on the second-last play.
“We were trying things, it didn’t happen but we stayed at it, that’s the big one for me, they stayed at it right to the end and showed enough courage to win. Probably a draw would have been a fair result.
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“So the two points are really valuable to us. That’s four and if we can get another two now somewhere in February we’ll feel like we’ll be in a position where we can think about what’s ahead of us.”
Dublin came out with all guns blazing from throw-in and surged 0-5 to 0-1 ahead in the first half.
Jack McCaffrey dazzled with 0-2 as Con O’Callaghan and Brian Fenton dominated the middle and Ciarán Kilkenny linked up the play.
Mayo struggled to get on the ball as Dessie Farrell’s men only kicked one first-half wide and played most of the football.
But a surge late in the half led by captain Paddy Durcan dragged the hosts back into it.
The Castlebar Mitchels man fearlessly ran at Dublin and they struggled to contain him as he orchestrated points for Bob Tuohy and Paul Towey in the fightback.
Mayo drew level at 0-8 apiece at the break before Coen’s goal put them ahead for the first time.
Dublin failed to score in the final ten minutes as O’Donoghue’s seventh point preceded the winner.
And, with two defeats from two since their return to Division 1, Farrell’s All-Ireland champions have work to do before their Round 3 Croke Park clash with Roscommon on Saturday week.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
McStay hailed his skipper for pulling the game from the fire.
The Mayo manager said: “He’s our captain, he’s a fantastic human being, a fantastic footballer for Mayo for a long, long time. There’s a lot left in Paddy, I can assure you.
“He’s just a great fella for everything we want to do and he nearly single-handedly launched us in that second quarter. It was great.
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“Dublin put in a big performance. The conversion rate was off the charts. It was 80 per cent, someone said, at half-time. I thought, ‘Nobody will keep this going’.
“This is just January/February National League stuff and we’re going as competitive as we can to try and get safe as quick as we can and then sit down, have a cup of tea and see where are we now.”
