Former Kerry captain Dara Ó'Cinnéide says James McCarthy was “emblematic” of why Dublin suffered a first championship defeat since 2014 last Saturday.

Mayo’s 0-17 to 0-14 victory, after extra time, at Croke Park booked James Horan’s men another All-Ireland SFC final berth at the Dubs’ expense in a game which saw McCarthy sin binned in the closing stages after a challenge inside Mayo’s 16-yard line.

While citing the Ballymun Kickhams man as one of the “the finest players to ever play the game”, Ó'Cinnéide said that McCarthy “visibly got old” in the second-half.

"It [the game] gets ragged, it gets messy. You'd like to think the discipline doesn't go but it happens," he told Off the Ball.

"James McCarthy was emblematic of that. He's one of the finest players to ever play the game. He Ó'Cinnéide in front of you in the second half.

"The mind is telling him to do stuff, the legs are telling him to do other stuff. Then he does stupid stuff at the end which is so uncharacteristic of the man. He just looked like he ran out of juice."

He added: "The reality is when you hit the wall, as Dublin obviously did, they met a team that was full of energy.”

Tweet

Most Read Stories