Mayo edged out on historic night in Croker

Mayo made a losing start to 2025 with a 1-17 to 1-15 defeat to Dublin on Saturday night.

In old money it would have been a 1-17 to 1-14 loss but Fergal Boland’s historic kick on 22 minutes was the first two-point score in Croke Park under the newly adopted playing rules.

Boland’s score came during an unanswered 1-7 spell by Kevin McStay’s team but was only good enough to help Mayo into a two points half-time advantage, such had been their struggles of the opening quarter.

Dublin raced 1-6 to 0-2 ahead inside 15 minutes, with Kevin Lahiff punching a goal and man-of-the-match Sean Bugler firing over three points, as the Mayo kickout came under serious pressure.

But a noticeable increase in intensity from Mayo, who gave first starts to Davitt Neary and Fenton Kelly, swung the momentum.

Paul Towey kicked two classy points having also provided a wonderful assist for the impressive Neary to split the posts, while goalkeeper Colm Reape and centre-back David McBrien were the creators of a 23rd minute goal that was drop-kicked to the net by Conor Reid.

Mayo changed ends with a 1-10 to 1-8 lead but their second quarter efforts took their toll, with only five points scored by the Green and Red in the entire second-half.

Neary, Boland and Ryan O’Donoghue all added to their first-half tallies but when it came down to the final 30 seconds, Mayo needed to find a two pointer just to earn a draw, mainly because Sean Bugler had remained in inspired form for Dublin, increasing his personal tally to 0-7 from play.

The ball arrived in O’Donoghue’s hands but his kick towards the Hill drifted wide and Dublin avenged last year’s league loss in Castlebar.

See Tuesday’s Western People for full coverage.