2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

Event	2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Dublin Mayo 2–9 (15) 0–15 (15)
Date	18 September 2016
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Man of the Match	John Small
Referee	Conor Lane (Cork)
Weather	16°C, fine
← 2015

2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final replay

Dublin Mayo 1–15 (18) 1–14 (17)
Date	1 October 2016
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Man of the Match	Michael Fitzsimons
Referee	Maurice Deegan (Laois)
Weather	Showers which cleared
2017 →

The 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, the 129th event of its kind and the culmination of the 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, was a Gaelic football match played at Croke Park in Dublin on 18 September 2016 ^[1] and was replayed on 1 October 2016.

Defending champions Dublin and qualifiers Mayo competed for the Sam Maguire Cup, in a repeat of the 2013 final. ^[2] Mayo qualified despite defeat in its provincial championship, under the system of second chances introduced in 2001. The first match ended in a draw, Mayo 0–15 Dublin 2–9. The replay finished Dublin 1–15 Mayo 1–14, meaning Dublin retained the Sam Maguire Cup for the first time since 1977. This was the eighth final that Mayo have lost since their last success in 1951. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

The game was televised nationally by RTÉ2 as part of The Sunday Game live programme, presented by Michael Lyster from Croke Park, with studio analysis from Joe Brolly, Pat Spillane, and Colm O'Rourke.

Background

Dublin entered the final having won the Leinster championship (by defeating Laois, Meath and Westmeath) ^{[6] [7] [8]} and then overcoming the challenges presented by both Donegal and Kerry. ^{[9] [10]} Mayo became the first team to reach the final via the qualifier route since 2010, when both Cork and Down did so. In doing so they overcame London ^[11] then lost to Galway in the Connacht Championship, ^[12] then overcame Fermanagh, ^[13] Kildare ^[14] Westmeath, ^[15] Tyrone ^[16] and Tipperary. ^[17]

Demand for tickets for the final was extremely high. There was no general sale, with all tickets being distributed via the county boards and clubs. The GAA warned that the holders of any tickets that becomes known to them as having been bought on the black market could be denied entry to the match. ^[18]

Conor Lane of Cork refereed the first match, his first All-Ireland senior final. ^[19] Both teams named their line-ups during the week. This left Dublin unchanged from their semi-final win over Kerry, while Mayo had Tom Parsons take to the pitch in place of Barry Moran. ^[20]

Delayed entry

Dublin delayed entry onto the field of play for the first match. They were scheduled as the first of the teams onto the pitch at 14:56, according to Croke Park's strict timetable. However, they informed stewards they would enter the field of play at 15:00, though then did not do so until 15:02. Mayo, scheduled for entry at 14:58 (two minutes later after Dublin's scheduled time of entry) were then asked enter the pitch earlier than their scheduled time. In the end both teams ran onto the pitch at the same time, though Dublin muscled aside Mayo to make the bench for the team photograph. ^[21]

Match 1

Summary

Mayo started well, taking two points through Tom Parsons and Cillian O'Connor. The first goal of the match came in the 9th minute, when the ball hit Mayo's Kevin McLoughlin and trickled over the line for Dublin. O'Connor leveled the match with another point before the 23rd minute, which saw the ball bounce off Colm Boyle's leg and over the line for another goal to Dublin's advantage. Donal Vaughan pulled a point back for Mayo and shortly after, James McCarthy was black carded for tackling O'Connor off the ball. In the 28th minute, Aidan O'Shea put the ball in the Dublin net but was penalised for fouling Dublin's Jonny Cooper. No Dublin player scored until the 31st minute when Rock tapped over a free. Dublin's first point from play came as the half concluded. It was by Paddy Andrews, who had replaced McCarthy, and Andrews's point was swiftly followed by another from him. These were Dublin's only scores from play in the first half. A single point from Jason Doherty wrapped up the first half with Dublin leading by five points. ^{[20] [22]}

Andy Moran opened the scoring in the second half, starting a run of five successive points for Mayo. Further points by Patrick Durcan and O'Connor levelled the match on 45 minutes. Brian Fenton and Rock pushed Dublin ahead, but by the 61st minute the game was again level, with Alan Dillon equalising to bring the scoreline to Dublin 2–6 Mayo 0–12. A string of three points by John Small, Rock and Diarmuid Connolly towards the end of normal time meant that Dublin were leading by two points. Seven minutes of additional time were announced just before the end of normal time, though ultimately more than that was played. Vaughan's point on 70+2 minutes and O'Connor's 44 yd (40 m) kick in the final minute set the final up for a replay. ^[20] The final score was unusual for a drawn match in that, taking own goals into account, 21 of the 30 points were scored by players of one team. ^[23]

Details

18 September 2016

15:30 IST

Dublin	2–09 – 0–15	Mayo
Dean Rock (0–4) Paddy Andrews (0–2) John Small 0-1 Brian Fenton 0-1 Diarmuid Connolly 0–1 Kevin McLoughlin 1–0 own goal Colm Boyle 1–0 own goal	Report	Cillian O’Connor (0–7) Donal Vaughan 0-2 Alan Moran 0–2 Patrick Durcan 0-1 Tom Parsons 0-1 Alan Dillon 0-1 Jason Doherty 0–1

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 82,257

Referee: Conor Lane (Cork)

Dublin

Mayo

GK 1 Stephen Cluxton (c) CB 2 Philly McMahon FB 3 Jonny Cooper CB 4 David Byrne  66' WB 5 James McCarthy   24' HB 6 Cian O'Sullivan WB 7 John Small MF 8 Brian Fenton MF 9 Michael Darragh MacAuley  53' WF 10 Paul Flynn  74' HF 11 Kevin McManamon  4'  47' WF 12 Ciarán Kilkenny CF 13 Dean Rock FF 14 Diarmuid Connolly  61' CF 15 Bernard Brogan  62' Substitutes: GK 16 Michael Savage FW 17 Paddy Andrews  24' MF 18 Denis Bastick  74' DF 19 Tomás Brady FW 20 Cormac Costello DF 21 Darren Daly  66' DF 22 Michael Fitzsimons  53' DF 23 Eric Lowndes FW 24 Paul Mannion  47' FW 25 Con O'Callaghan FW 26 Eoghan O'Gara  62' Manager: Jim Gavin

GK 1 David Clarke CB 2 Brendan Harrison FB 3 Donal Vaughan CB 4 Keith Higgins WB 5 Lee Keegan  61' HB 6 Colm Boyle  58' WB 7 Patrick Durcan MF 8 Séamus O'Shea  54' MF 9 Tom Parsons WF 10 Kevin McLoughlin HF 11 Aidan O'Shea WF 12 Diarmuid O'Connor  67' CF 13 Jason Doherty FF 14 Andy Moran  71' CF 15 Cillian O'Connor (c) Substitutes: GK 16 Rob Hennelly DF 17 Chris Barrett  58' DF 18 Kevin Keane MF 19 Stephen Coen  67' FW 20 Evan Regan  71' 79' DF 21 David Drake FW 22 Alan Dillon  54' 67' FW 23 Conor O'Shea MF 24 Barry Moran  67' FW 25 Alan Freeman FW 26 Conor Loftus  79' Manager: Stephen Rochford

Man of the Match: John Small (Dublin) [24]

Match 2

Summary

By the 6th minute, Dublin had stormed ahead and led by four points through Dean Rock and Kevin McManamon. Mayo came back with points from Patrick Durcan, Cillian O'Connor and Andy Moran to tie the game. ^[25] Two free kicks by Rock gave Dublin back the lead but was undone when Mayo's Lee Keegan scored the first goal of the match from 14 yd (13 m). Dublin suffered a further setback when Jonny Cooper was black carded for tripping Donal Vaughan. Goalscorer Keegan was also black carded late into the first half for impeding Diarmuid Connolly. However, Dublin finished strongly, taking another four points to lead by a single point at half time. ^{[26] [27]}

The second half was equally tense, as Mayo regained the lead briefly before Dublin took control. Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly was black carded for pulling down Paddy Andrews and the subsequent penalty by Connolly made the score 1–11 1–08 in favour of Dublin. ^[28] The three point lead was one Mayo was unable to overturn. Mayo replied with points from O'Connor, Kevin McLoughlin and Durcan but substitutes Bernard Brogan and Cormac Costello kept Dublin ahead. ^[29] Dublin led 1–14 1–13 on 70 minutes, with an additional six minutes of injury time. Late into injury time, Mayo's point scoring hero from the first match, O'Connor had an opportunity to level the match and send the game into extra time, but his 44 yd (40 m) free kick missed the target and went wide. The win ensured that Dublin retained the cup for the first time since 1977. ^{[25] [30]}

Details

1 October 2016

17:00 IST

Dublin	1–15 – 1–14	Mayo
Dean Rock 0–9 Diarmuid Connolly 1–1 Cormac Costello 0–3 Kevin McManamon 0-1 Bernard Brogan 0–1	Report	Cillian O'Connor 0–9 Lee Keegan 1–0 Patrick Durcan 0–2 Andy Moran 0-1 Diarmuid O'Connor 0-1 Kevin McLoughlin 0–1

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 82,249

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)

Dublin

Mayo

GK 1 Stephen Cluxton (c) CB 2 Philly McMahon FB 3 Jonny Cooper   21' CB 22 Michael Fitzsimons WB 5 James McCarthy HB 6 Cian O'Sullivan  72' WB 7 John Small  35+4'  60' MF 8 Brian Fenton  31' MF 10 Paul Flynn  47' WF 12 Ciarán Kilkenny HF 14 Diarmuid Connolly  35+4' WF 24 Paul Mannion  52' CF 13 Dean Rock FF 17 Paddy Andrews  47' CF 11 Kevin McManamon  56' Substitutes: GK 16 Michael Savage DF 4 David Byrne  21' MF 9 Michael Darragh MacAuley  52' FW 15 Bernard Brogan  47' MF 18 Denis Bastick DF 19 Tomás Brady FW 20 Cormac Costello  56' DF 21 Darren Daly  72' DF 23 Eric Lowndes  60' FW 25 Con O'Callaghan FW 26 Eoghan O'Gara Manager: Jim Gavin

GK 16 Rob Hennelly   41' CB 2 Brendan Harrison FB 3 Donal Vaughan  35+4'  HT' CB 4 Keith Higgins WB 5 Lee Keegan   35+1' HB 6 Colm Boyle  71' WB 7 Patrick Durcan MF 8 Séamus O'Shea MF 9 Tom Parsons WF 10 Kevin McLoughlin HF 11 Aidan O'Shea WF 12 Diarmuid O'Connor CF 13 Jason Doherty  60' FF 14 Andy Moran  55' CF 15 Cillian O'Connor (c) Substitutes: GK 1 David Clarke  41' DF 17 Chris Barrett  71' DF 18 Kevin Keane MF 19 Stephen Coen  35+1' FW 20 Evan Regan DF 21 David Drake FW 22 Alan Dillon  60' FW 23 Conor O'Shea  HT' MF 24 Barry Moran  55' FW 25 Alan Freeman FW 26 Conor Loftus Manager: Stephen Rochford

Man of the Match: Michael Fitzsimons (Dublin) [31]

Reaction

Dublin manager Jim Gavin speaking after the match was satisfied with the performance of the team after a long season saying "What is it now, the 40th week of the year, and we’ve been back since the second week in January, our first game in the O’Byrne Cup, so in terms of the intercounty cycle, it’s been a long season of giving it everything. And I couldn’t ask for any more from the players, and particularly from the management team, the backroom and the support team there who pushed really hard during the season, particularly the last two weeks (since the drawn game) to do their very best for the player group. ^[32] Everybody's pushing to get these players to be their best, and there's been a really collective togetherness about the squad this year, and we gave it our all. If it didn't work out for us on Saturday I would have no complaints because everybody just gave their all. That's all we ever ask: from myself, or the backroom team, or the players.” ^[33]

Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly, who was named in the team as a late replacement for David Clarke and subsequently conceded a penalty and was then black carded, revealed his heartache after the final with a post on Instagram, saying "I'll never be able to fully describe what was going through my head at this moment. What I was expecting to be one of my best days turned out to be the opposite, and it breaks my heart I didn't come through for my team and county". ^[34]

Mayo manager Stephen Rochford speaking after the match said "We did our analysis on Dublin. They had pushed with a formation in the first game, pushing four guys inside. They were trying to cut off our short kick-out and as the game developed in the drawn game they were getting more comfort or more reward and it was probably something they were going to try and maximise further. Robbie's kick-out gave us a bit more length, a bit more option and that was the reason behind it, When you look at a one-point defeat you look at every single play, every single decision, every single moment in it and question what could have been. That’s just the way it is.” ^[35]

Trophy presentation

Dublin captain Stephen Cluxton accepted the Sam Maguire Cup from GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail in the Hogan Stand.

Celebrations

The Dublin team had a homecoming celebration on 2 October at Smithfield in Dublin which started at 4:30pm. ^[36] The night before, players and their management team celebrated their win at The Gibson Hotel. ^{[37] [38]}

Broadcasting

Both matches were shown live on television in Ireland on The Sunday Game . RTÉ television coverage was presented by Michael Lyster from Croke Park, with studio analysis from Joe Brolly, Pat Spillane, and Colm O'Rourke. ^[39] Match commentary was by Ger Canning with comments by Martin Carney. Sky Sports also showed the match live with Rachel Wyse and Brian Carney presenting and Peter Canavan, Jim McGuinness and James Horan providing in-studio analysis.

References

1. "Plan your GAA year: the official 2016 fixture list". Irish Examiner. 20 November 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
2. Fleming, Diarmaid (16 September 2016). "A fresh chance to banish the curse of Mayo". BBC News. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
3. "Dubs' double delight as Westerners self-destruct". Irish Independent. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
4. "Dublin seal back-to-back titles with dramatic win". RTE Sport. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
5. "Dublin win fiery All-Ireland final to continue Mayo's misery". Irish Examiner. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
6. "Rock on song as Dublin ease past 14-man Laois" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
7. "Meath resistance wanes as Dublin ease into final" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
8. "Boys in Blue cruise to another Leinster title" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
9. "Stuttering Dubs show their fallibility - Independent.ie" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
10. "Dublin find answer to big Kingdom test - Champions recover from five-point deficit to stay on track for back-to-back All-Irelands - Independent.ie" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
11. "Loftus stars as Mayo coast through in Ruislip" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
12. "Galway shock Mayo in Castlebar" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
13. "Mayo survive Fermanagh challenge to advance" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
14. "O'Connor shines as Mayo prove too strong for Kildare - Independent.ie" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
15. "Mayo survive Westmeath revival to cement last eight place - Independent.ie" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
16. "Keegan shows his bottle as Red Hand rue missed chances - Independent.ie" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
17. "Fairytale over for Tipperary as unconvincing Mayo progress to All-Ireland final". 21 August 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
18. Hynes, Robert (22 September 2016). "GAA warn fans about buying or selling final tickets outside official channels". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
19. "Cork's Conor Lane to referee All-Ireland final between Dublin and Mayo". Irish Independent. 10 September 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
20. "Recap: How the All-Ireland football final unfolded" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
21. "Dubs may be punished for late appearance at Croker" . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
22. "2016 All-Ireland senior final: as it happened". The 42. 17 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
23. "Late O'Connor point rescues draw for Mayo against Dublin in All-Ireland senior final". The 42. 17 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
24. "Do you agree with The Sunday Game's All-Ireland SFC final man-of-the-match award?". The 42. 18 September 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
25. "All-Ireland SFC final: Dublin edge out heartbroken Mayo in replay at Croke Park". BBC Sport. 1 October 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
26. "Dublin leading after hectic first half in Croker". RTE. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
27. "Dublin 1-15 Mayo 1-14: The five critical moments". Irish Times. 1 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
28. "Mayo 'keeper Hennelly posts heartfelt message about his part in All-Ireland final defeat". The 42. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
29. "Costello comes of age with impact from bench". RTE Sport. 1 October 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
30. "The Final Replay: as it happened". The 42. 1 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
31. "Michael Fitzsimons named All-Ireland SFC final man of the match". The 42. 1 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
32. "Jim Gavin deflects the praise onto his players". Irish Examiner. 1 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
33. "Jim Gavin on All-Ireland victory: 'We gave it our all'". Irish Times. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
34. "Heartbroken Rob Hennelly breaks silence on final calamity". Irish Examiner. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
35. "Stephen Rochford explains why he started Rob Hennelly for Mayo". Irish Examiner. 1 October 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
36. "Capital awash with emotion as sea of blue greets heroes". Irish Independent. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
37. "In pictures: All-Ireland winning Dublin players celebrate Sam Maguire with fans in Smithfield". Irish Mirror. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
38. "Watch: 'We represent a really special county in Dublin' - Gavin's heroes bring joy to the children in Crumlin Hospital". Irish Independent. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
39. Fogarty, John (11 September 2019). "Brolly now on the sidelines for biggest day of the GAA year". Irish Examiner . Retrieved 11 September 2019. Last Sunday week [1 September 2019] was the first time since 2014 that the long-standing triumvirate of Brolly, O'Rourke, and Pat Spillane was broken up. For the Kerry-Donegal decider five years ago, Whelan took the place of Spillane on the live panel alongside Brolly and O'Rourke.