https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=sfZN4BW5Ykc
There was the unusual sight yesterday of Dublin and Mayo players taking to the Croke Park pitch together for the pre-match photos and warm-up ahead of their drawn All-Ireland final and it seems that it wasnt by accident.
Last week In the build up to the game, the infamous ‘HillGate’ incident from the 2006 All Ireland semi-final between the two counties was doing the rounds, with some people wondering if Mayo would try to pull another stunt to try and unsettle the Dubs.
Well it looks like they did, although there is a bit of confusion about which team was supposed to take to the field first, according to the program Dublin were due out first, but according to John Casey of Midwest radio, it was Mayo who were due out first.
According to Casey a former Mayo forward, it was Mayo who were due out first, but they waited for six minutes in the tunnel to confront the Dublin team as they left their dressing room.
And Casey expressed he was scared such was the ferocity of the incident.
“I am not going to tell you a lie, I was scared down there. There were fellas going hammer and tongs at each other. It was pure purposefully timed by Mayo to try and disrupt the Dublin juggernaut,” said Casey.
“Aidan O’Shea ploughed through the middle of the Dublin players, Cillian O’Connor up-scuttled and hit a few fellas.”
He claimed that Aidan O’Shea and Kevin McManamon were going hammer and tongs ‘swinging at each other’
If it was a ploy by Mayo to unsettle Jim Gavin’s men and due to the fact that Dublin played so poorly and none of Dublin players managed a score in the opening thirty minutes, then it worked.
But if that is indeed the case, then given the fact Mayo still couldn’t win, it may backfire on them spectacularly in the replay when they will meet a much improved and fired up Dublin team.