Last year, we had the Armagh-Tyrone semi-final and though some would be loath to admit it . . . given the presence of two Ulster counties . . . the meeting did produce one of the finest clashes in modern years. A case was put forward for the drawn Dublin-Tyrone game earlier that summer, but it was quickly brushed under the carpet once the long whistle was blown on the northern semifinal. On Sunday evening, as he walked away from Croke Park, Paddy Cullen, Dublin's long serving goalkeeper from the 1970s, heard the voices draw comparisons once more.

"Heading home people were saying it was a great game of football . . . the semi of '77 was mentioned in comparison - but I wasn't sure, " he says. "I had to have another look at it on Monday and I did come away from that thinking it was a good game of football.

But it was far from being a classic."

That Kerry-Dublin semifinal from 1977 has provided the reference point for subsequent games of a certain standard and though the legend of that game has been exploded by contemporary frame-by-frame dissections, it still remains burned in the psyche. For Cullen, though, last weekend's game doesn't deserve to be hung up beside notable games of the past.

"I wouldn't put it alongside the top games of football over the years, but then again, it's difficult to be neutral when you can only see blue. The two turnarounds [Dublin in the first half, Mayo in the second] made it exciting, but the first half was drab. The second lived up to expectations and that was only because of Mayo's comeback, one of the best ever. For Mayo, the way they came good in the end, it will be seen as a classic but if one team only scores a point in 28 minutes, it can't be a classic, can it?"

Perhaps not a classic, but close enough. The game contained drama in abundance - from Mayo's annexing of the Hill to Mark Vaughan's late frees . . . and the football on show was by far the best we've seen all year. It matched the second half of the Kerry Armagh quarter-final for intensity, and surpassed it for excitement. In general, it was a clean, mainly flowing game of football with 34 frees in 75 minutes, Mayo conceding 16.

Of the 3-28 scored in total, only four points came from dead ball situations - this includes Kieran McDonald's superlative sideline kick and a 45 from Tomas Quinn.

What's more, the encounter was laced with a couple of fine individual performances.

The influence of Man of the Match Alan Dillon at half-forward was colossal. He was in possession 18 times throughout the game, kicked for goal on five occasions, scoring four.

At midfield, Pat Harte was responsible for most of Mayo's 14 kickouts won, seven of them clean and he turned over possession a total of four times. Dillon's gong-winning performance was matched by the brilliant running and consistent yard gains of Alan Brogan. The Dublin number eleven was in possession the same number of times as Dillon, was awarded frees in two scoring positions, scored four points and had a direct hand in five other scores.

A few myths were exploded along the way as well. In the commentators box Kevin McStay wondered how Mayo would cope when the game edged into the closing stages and Dublin's power and running would show. For all the talk of Dublin's fitness and post-match recovery sessions in DCU, though, it was quiet athleticism that got Mayo through in the end. The ability to retain possession late on, Keith Higgins' last minute block on Jason Sherlock and David Brady's two runs to the Hogan Stand sideline to collect David Clarke's kickouts.

The latter happened at a time when Dublin heads and bodies appeared too tired to stop the Mayo substitute reproducing the same move in the space of two minutes.

The game was speckled with talking points. For these reasons and others, Jimmy Keaveney, who played alongside Paddy Cullen in the Kerry-Dublin semi-final of 1977, disagrees with his former goalkeeper's take on the game. "It's the best game I've seen in a long time, " he says.

"I've been racking my brain trying to think when I saw as good a game and I haven't been able to come up with any yet. It was a fantastic game of football, a real spectacle. When Dublin were seven points up there were people talking about leaving Croke Park early, but the hearts were in the mouths for the next 20 minutes. Mayo just tore us apart with a great performance."

In the end, there was something for everyone to take away from Croke Park. With the sun to the back of his second year in charge and at least one more to come, Paul Caffrey can at least find a slice of hope in the advances this year.

Last season, one kick away from a semi-final, this year, one kick from an All Ireland final. It's still not enough though and since last weekend was put to bed, the decision-making of the Dublin bench has been called into question. "I was surprised to see Tomas Quinn coming off", adds Keaveney. "You'd normally retain your place-kicker. And moving Shane Ryan to half-back didn't help the cause. He was a dominant force in the middle and was having the game of his life in the first half."

By then, Ciaran Whelan had returned to centrefield duty following his temporary withdrawal through injury.

Like Brian Mullins, Dublin's midfielder in the '77 semifinal, Whelan was fortunate to have remained on the field for a previous challenge on Ronan McGarrity. It isn't the only obvious comparison with the '77 classic. "In '77, Dublin came back in the last 10 minutes and scored two goals and a point in a short space of time", recalls Keaveney.

"Though we'd beaten Kerry in the '75 final there was still this recurring story that Dublin couldn't beat Kerry in the championship. But after the semi-final, that was blown away."

After last Sunday, Mayo have taken the powerhose to a couple of cobwebbed stories themselves. Heart and guile, composure and confidence, that's what they showed. It surprised most and enthralled many.

Whether the game remains distilled in the public's mind as a classic or not won't bother them. The All Ireland final is the only language they'll speak for the coming fortnight.