The Dublin-Mayo rivalry is a Gaelic football rivalry between Irish county teams Dublin and Mayo, who first played each other in 1906.
Initially, they played each other only sporadically however it has more recently been considered a significant rivalry in Gaelic games due to the increased frequency of matches between the two teams in the 21st century. Championship matches between the two teams usually take place in the latter stages of the championship and as a result attract high interest.
The rivalry reached its greatest intensity in the 2010s for a variety of reasons: the increased frequency in which the teams competed against each other in high stakes matches, each county having what was considered to being one of their strongest ever teams, the closeness of the matches, the involvement of high-profile players such as Bernard Brogan, Diarmuid Connolly and Philly McMahon for Dublin and Cillian O'Connor, Lee Keegan and Aidan O'Shea for Mayo, and the controversial incidents that have occurred in these matches.
Dublin's home ground is Parnell Park and Mayo's home ground is MacHale Park, however, all of their championship meetings have been held at neutral venues, usually Croke Park.
Dublin have the highest number of Leinster titles and have won 30 All Ireland football championships. In 2020 they became the first county ever to win 6 consecutive All Ireland championships in either Gaelic football or hurling (2015-2019).
Mayo have won the Connacht championship a total of 48 times. They have won the All Ireland football championship 3 times however they have lost 10 finals since their last victory in 1951.
The teams have met 19 times with Dublin winning 12 times and Mayo winning 3 times. There have been 4 draws.
History
1906–1985: Sporadic encounters, Dublin dominance
Championship encounters between Dublin and Mayo were rare in the first 100 years of the GAA Championship. They played each other only 7 times in total during this period. Mayo failed to win any of these games. The closest they came was in 1955 and 1985 when they took Dublin to a replay before losing.
2006: The mill on the hill, Mayo's first win
The sides met in the championship for the first time in 21 years in the 2006 All-Ireland Semi-final. There was controversy during the warm-up before the game when Mayo defied tradition by warming-up at the Hill 16 end of Croke Park. Up to this point it had been customary for Dublin to warm-up at that end. Upon seeing Mayo warming-up at the Hill 16 end, Dublin decided to warm up at the Hill 16 end anyway, causing an unusual situation where both teams warmed up at the same end. Mayo's apparent pre-match mind games, which became known as the "mill on the hill" appeared to bother Dublin manager Paul Caffrey who was seen on camera shoulder charging Mayo selector John Morrison before the match.
Mayo started the match strong and scored the first 4 points of the game. Dublin did not score their first point until Conal Keaney scored in the 17th minute. A goal by Keaney 5 minutes later rejuvenated Dublin but a strong finish to the half by Mayo meant that they led at half time by 0-9 to 1-5.
Dublin started the second half strong with a goal by Jason Sherlock within 2 minutes of the restart. After 46 minutes they lead by 2-11 to 0-10 and looked on course to reach the All-Ireland final. However Mayo came back and with the help of a goal by Andy Moran they were level after 55 minutes and took the lead after 57 minutes due to a Conor Mortimer free. Alan Brogan equalised for Dublin before the iconic winning point was kicked by Ciaran McDonald.
The 2006 encounter between the two sides has been regarded by many journalists as being one of the greatest Gaelic football matches of all time.