All-Ireland SFC semi-final: Mayo 3-23 Louth 0-15Flying in the face of history, Mayo made it easy on themselves. A season in which they dared not to dream for so long has mutated into a familiar fantasy. They overwhelmed Louth with a performance of such authority and class, that it raises a possibility nobody could have expected. This time?In a fortnight, Mayo will contest their ninth All-Ireland final since the turn of the century, and their first since 2021, with a team that was fashioned on the run. Since their excruciating loss to Roscommon at the end of April, they have stumbled over questions and answers and somehow kept their feet.This performance, though, was different from anything they had produced this year. It was nothing like the second half against Monaghan or the first halves against Meath and Cork when they looked porous and vulnerable and when it sometimes looked like they were guessing.Here, they played with calmness and certainty. They murdered Louth on turnovers, and when they got a grip on the Louth kickout in the third quarter, they cut through, time and again. Mayo’s third goal, 15 minutes into the second half, killed the game stone dead, and by then they could easily have scored three other goals but for Louth’s scramble defence.Louth had no answers. They had first use of a strong breeze towards the Canal End and couldn’t make it pay. In the opening half, they made six attempts at two-pointers and converted just two of them. Instead of having some comfort on the scoreboard at the break, they trailed by five points. It was in Mayo’s hands.Kobe McDonald of Mayo celebrates a score. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho In the second half, Louth looked leaden and ultimately demoralised. Their attacks were infrequent and pedestrian and they went 21 minutes without a score; by then they were 13 points behind.The hooter had sounded and the hugging had started when Ryan O’Donoghue kicked the last two-pointer of the game. It was fitting that he should have the last word. O’Donoghue has had many fine games for Mayo since his breakthrough in 2020, but this was his greatest performance by a distance.He finished the game with 1-11, including three two-pointers, but his hands were all over the levers of Mayo’s attack. He dictated the tempo and orchestrated how the ball moved. It was a clinic in leadership and game management and Louth were powerless to curb his influence.Around him the teenagers were electric again. O’Donoghue scored Mayo’s first goal after six minutes and Beirne got the second, two minutes before half time. His initial shot for a point was partially blocked, but he kept going, and when Jordan Flynn got his hand to the dropping ball, Sam Callinan mopped up the break and fed Beirne on the loop. The young corner forward finished with cool detachment.Kobe McDonald bestrode Croke Park again. It was another performance of precocious athleticism and fiery imagination. He played a sumptuous first-time flick to set up O’Donoghue’s goal and shortly afterwards set up Beirne for his first score. By the end of the game he had four points and four assists and a showreel of blistering runs and divine ball-handling.Louth's Emmet Carolan dejected after the game. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho As a contest it disintegrated into dust, but it had been a thunderous first half. Not for the first time this season, Mayo were blitzed on their own kickouts but whenever they got their hands on the ball their transitions were lightning. Sam Callinan and Enda Hession flew down both flanks and Louth couldn’t put a brake on Mayo’s inside forwards.Louth recovered from Donoghue’s early goal to lead by 0-7 to 1-2 after 16 minutes, but Sam Mulroy’s kicking was unusually off-cue and their inside line was toothless. Conor Grimes kicked three lovely scores, including a two-pointer, and Dara McDonnell was terrific under Mayo’s kickouts, but they needed to build a lead.Mayo went back in front with O’Donoghue’s first two-pointer after 21 minutes and they never trailed again. By half-time they were five points clear, 2-9 to 0-11, and after the break they went for the jugular.Tommy Conroy came on at the beginning of the second half and at every opportunity he ran at the Louth defence. With his first possession he forced a shot that was deflected on to the Louth crossbar and after that the goal chances rained down on Louth.Conroy forced another save from Niall McDonnell and minutes later O’Donoghue did too. The third Mayo goal, though, was bound to come. Callinan made a turnover outside the Mayo D and they broke at pace. Conroy played the scoring pass and Conor Loftus applied the finish.There were still 20 minutes left, but Mayo were nine points clear now and in control all over the field. The dreaming starts again.Mayo: J Livingstone, J Coyne, D McHugh, E McGreal, S Callinan, D McBrien, E Hession, B Tuohy, J Carney, S Coen, P Towey (0-0-1), J Flynn (0-1-0), D Beirne (1-0-2, 1f), R O’Donoghue (1-3-5, 2tpf, 2f, 1m), K McDonald (0-0-4). Subs: T Conroy for Towey (h-t); C Loftus (1-0-0) for Coen (42 mins); C McHale (0-0-2) for Beirne (50 mins); F Kelly for McGreal (55 mins); M Ruane (0-0-1) for Flynn (62 mins).Louth: N McDonnell, E Carolan, D McKenny, D Nally, C McKeever, D McDonnell (0-0-1), C Lennon, C Early, C Keenan (0-0-1), J Maguire, S Mulroy (0-1-0, 1tpf), C Grimes (0-1-2), K McArdle, C Downey (0-2-2), R Burns. Subs: T McDonnell for Lennon (inj, 23 mins); C Byrne for Keenan (40 mins); C Loftus for Coen (42 mins); T Durnin (0-0-1) for Maguire (46 mins); C McCaul (0-1-0) for Grimes (53 mins); A Williams for McKeever 62 mins.Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)