When Sean O’Shea’s dramatic late free split the posts in the All-Ireland semi-final, it was the first time since 2010 that Dublin had lost a Championship game by a single point.
The previous occasion was another All-Ireland semi-final, as Cork pipped them 12 years ago en route to their only title since 1990 in what was Mick Fitzsimons’ first year on the team.
But the team was on an upward gradient. A little over a year later he had the first of his eight All-Ireland medals courtesy of a one-point victory over Kerry and in subsequent seasons Mayo were repeatedly on the wrong side of the odd point against Dublin, losing All-Ireland finals to them in 2013, ‘16 (replay) and ‘17 by the bare minimum.
