Mayo manager James Horan was, understandably, delighted as his side pulled off an unlikely comeback to defeat reigning champions Dublin in yesterday's All-Ireland SFC semi-final.

The westerners had to do it the hard way against a battle-hardened Dublin after falling seven points down heading into the break at Croke Park but a sensational second-half turnaround changed the course of the game completely as they emerged 0-17 to 0-14 winners in extra-time.

"We were probably tentative in the first 15-20 minutes, whether we should push forward or hold a little bit," Horan explained.

"We got a bit caught in that maybe. Even with that, we had three or four very bad wides and we had a free that we missed. It could have been 10-7, even though we played very poorly but our energy wasn't what it usually is.

"We managed to lift the energy a bit for the second half and things take off from there, usually."

Horan aired his annoyance over the "dangerous" tackle which left defender Eoghan McLaughlin hospitalised.

"I know he's in a lot of discomfort. A lot of discomfort. The medical team are gone to the hospital with him now so we have to see how that is," he continued.

"I just thought the Eoghan McLaughlin one in particular, I was pretty close to it, I thought it was very dangerous. The way Eoghan fell, you know by the way a guy falls that they're in bother and the play just sort of went on. I was annoyed about that."

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