Mayo have their best chance yet to beat a “wobbling” Dublin team this weekend, says former Blues midfielder Paul Bealin.
In what will be their 10th Championship meeting since 2012, Mayo are going for a first victory in the fixture since the All-Ireland semi-final of nine years ago, having taken Dublin to two replays and been beaten by a single point on three occasions in the meantime.
Bealin is somewhat alarmed by Dublin’s recent Leinster Championship campaign as their average margin of victory across the competition dropped from 18 points last year to just over seven this year and he feels they’re vulnerable entering the All-Ireland series.
He said: “I’d be very worried - very worried - because players that we know can win games for us are only performing at - and they’ve a very high standard - about 60-70% but they’re still winning matches and they’re closing out games.
“They’re going to play against a Mayo team that have rejuvenated themselves and are on the front foot and plenty of running and plenty of reasons why they have the chance to beat a Dublin team that’s wobbling.
“Like, revenge is probably one of the greatest motivating factors that Mayo will have and they have the best chance ever of beating this Dublin team on Saturday. The best chance they’ll ever have.
“Why? Because Dublin are wobbling and they are vulnerable and people can see that. Can Mayo perform at the highest level?
“It’ll still take some team to beat this current team. Doesn’t matter how poorly they’re playing, you want to have a fantastic team to beat this Dublin team because they can very quickly individually step up when they need to and they’ve shown that throughout the three matches they’ve played, different players standing up and making a difference to close out the game.
“So it’ll take a fantastic team to beat them and if Mayo are up to that level then best of luck to them.
“But I’m sure Mayo, in the back of their minds, believe that Dublin are vulnerable and all the signs and indications are that Dublin aren’t playing to the level that we’re familiar with,” added the 1995 All-Ireland winner.
The six-in-a-row winners have lost the tag of All-Ireland favourites a rampant Kerry team, whose delayed semi-final against Tyrone is due to go ahead on Saturday week.
“Kerry are favourites and rightly so on all of the performances they’ve put in this year to date,” Bealin acknowledged.
“They have blitzed teams. It doesn’t matter what division the teams are in, they destroyed a Cork team that bet them last year.
“They would have got serious stick from their own Kerry supporters and they would have asked themselves some questions and they’ve come back. There’s nothing worse than playing against a team who are hurt and Kerry are hurt and they’re showing an awful lot of hunger. Far greater hunger than Dublin have shown this year so rightly so, they’re favourites for that particular reason but they haven’t taken any big scalps yet.
“That’s no disrespect to the teams they’ve beaten. They’re playing Tyrone in two weeks’ time but they haven’t beaten anyone as such. They’ve beaten teams comprehensively which Dublin haven’t done this year and which Dublin would normally do every other year so it remains to be seen but you can understand why they’re rightly favourites to win the All-Ireland.”
