Dublin entered the final having won the Leinster championship (by defeating Laois, Meath and Westmeath)[6][7][8] and then overcoming the challenges presented by both Donegal and Kerry.

This left Dublin unchanged from their semi-final win over Kerry, while Mayo had Tom Parsons take to the pitch in place of Barry Moran.

The first goal of the match came in the 9th minute, when the ball hit Mayo's Kevin McLoughlin and trickled over the line for Dublin.

O'Connor leveled the match with another point before the 23rd minute, which saw the ball bounce off Colm Boyle's leg and over the line for another goal to Dublin's advantage.

Donal Vaughan pulled a point back for Mayo and shortly after, James McCarthy was black carded for tackling O'Connor off the ball.

Mayo came back with points from Patrick Durcan, Cillian O'Connor and Andy Moran to tie the game.

[25] Two free kicks by Rock gave Dublin back the lead but was undone when Mayo's Lee Keegan scored the first goal of the match from 14 yd (13 m).

Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly was black carded for pulling down Paddy Andrews and the subsequent penalty by Connolly made the score 1–11 1–08 in favour of Dublin.

Mayo replied with points from O'Connor, Kevin McLoughlin and Durcan but substitutes Bernard Brogan and Cormac Costello kept Dublin ahead.

[25][30] Man of the Match: Michael Fitzsimons (Dublin)[31] Dublin manager Jim Gavin speaking after the match was satisfied with the performance of the team after a long season saying "What is it now, the 40th week of the year, and we’ve been back since the second week in January, our first game in the O’Byrne Cup, so in terms of the intercounty cycle, it’s been a long season of giving it everything.

That’s just the way it is.”[35] Dublin captain Stephen Cluxton accepted the Sam Maguire Cup from GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail in the Hogan Stand.

RTÉ television coverage was presented by Michael Lyster from Croke Park, with studio analysis from Joe Brolly, Pat Spillane, and Colm O'Rourke.

Sky Sports also showed the match live with Rachel Wyse and Brian Carney presenting and Peter Canavan, Jim McGuinness and James Horan providing in-studio analysis.