Whereas Dean Rock and Kevin McManamon had taken on the 'super sub' roles against Kerry last time out, today it was the turn of Eoghan O'Gara, who knocked over two points after coming on early for Paul Mannion, and Denis Bastick who made his presence felt immediately by teeing up Bernard Brogan's second half goal.

Gavin's men may have been praised for their free-flowing style of play throughout the summer months, but the final's conclusion was far from pretty - a heavy injury toll no doubt playing its part, with Rory O'Carroll and O'Gara both forced to play on with knocks.

The Dubs looked decidedly edgy as they were forced to defend a slender lead, often resorting to giving away frees and slowing down play deliberately - the type of cynical tactics that northern teams like Donegal and Tyrone have been criticised for.

RTÉ analyst Joe Brolly did argue that Dublin showed they were 'just like the rest of them' in the last 10 minutes, referring to their fouling, but the result was all that mattered for Connolly and company.

The St. Vincent's clubman told RTÉ Sport: "It was absolutely magical. We really dug it out in the end. Mayo are a phenomenal team, they really stuck it up to us for the 74 minutes.

"It's 24 or 25 degrees out there and probably 30 in your head and you're covering eight to nine kilometres on the pitch. The intensity was absolutely phenomenal and the hits going in. It does fatigue you.

"It's a 20-man game, you saw how much we emptied our bench and they drove us over the line. It was the impact of the bench. The team ethic is what it is all about.

"I have no doubt in my mind that Mayo will be back again. Hopefully we meet them again. We felt the pain last year. We know what they are feeling at this minute."

Connolly's forward colleague Paul Flynn, the Dubs' only All-Star last year, admitted that tiredness had crept into Dublin's play in the closing stages.

Flynn works as a strength and conditioning coach with Shamrock Rovers and quipped that he will probably 'get a bit of stick off the Rovers lads as a few of us wilted towards the end'.

With the win not having sunk in just yet, he said: "It's a bit surreal at the minute. I'm so tired I can't even think straight, I'm so happy. You win one and you think that's all you ever want in life.

"To go on and be able to work hard and get a bunch of lads to push each other to the limit every training session, and come out and get that performance against a cracking Mayo team, it was just one of those years.

"We did it the hard way, we played all the top teams. It was amazing."

Flynn thanked his team-mates and the management for 'all the hard work they put in' during the season, while he was particularly pleased to see two-goal hero Brogan starring again on the biggest stage, adding: "He's been doing it in training so it's no surprise he did it today."