"It's a small, small, small step," cautioned a pleased Jim Gavin on Saturday night as his Dublin players trooped back onto the team bus for a night drive to the capital. Perhaps, but Dublin's 2-18 to 0-10 win felt like a bigger regressive step for Mayo.

The results in Division One have been unpredictable but no team wants to flat-line when they are hosting Dublin in front of a bumper and highly expectant home crowd.

Nothing about Mayo’s form suggested that a result like this was on the cards.

Pat Holmes declined the excuse of just hitting a low because of the busy March schedule but was also reluctant to go into the any specific analysis of why his side had been so comprehensively out played.

An obvious factor in the match was that Mayo’s set-up gave Dublin the opportunity to tap into their high-octane attacking game in a way that they couldn’t do against Tyrone or, to a lesser extent, Donegal in Croke Park.

Mayo came tantalisingly close to an All-Ireland win under James Horan without adopting the defensive cover of other counties and have continued in that vein under Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly.

Special case

But Saturday night’s game may have done enough to convince the Mayo management that Dublin are a special case: you can’t just go play ball against them. Their forward surges were frightening to behold – and this was without Michael Dara Macauley at centre field.

“Mayo are one of the traditional sides and they play football the way that traditional football is played,” Jim Gavin responded.

“Dublin are one of those teams too. In the league Mayo have been playing strong. . . they had a few injuries here today but they will be in the mix in this league and certainly in the championship.”

That may well be true but Mayo, in their current carnation, are beyond a good showing in the championship. Winning the thing is all for the four -times Connacht champions.

It wasn’t just the quality of Dublin’s attack that was alarming for Mayo: it was the way in which their home superstructure was taken apart. The full back line and half-back line were stretched beyond communication point.

Aidan O’Shea was, as Holmes pointed out, moved from full forward to midfield after 15 minutes but even that failed to buy Mayo any influence in the middle of the field. They found it difficult to get ball to their inside forwards and most of that possession was to the corners, with the forwards chasing towards the sideline, backs to goal and at least two Dublin defenders tracking them down.

Having a team boss them like this was a new experience for Mayo: a stubborn consistency in imposing their game had become one of their defining traits. That was why what unfolded in Castlebar was so unsettling for the home support. Little wonder the Mayo players appeared so sombre leaving the ground.

"It was all about Dublin tonight because they scored 2-18," said Lee Keegan minutes after the defeat. "I can't really say anymore than that. It was a complete reality check for us tonight. They looked sharper and hungry for the ball. A lot of our guys didn't get out of second gear tonight and you could see it. They were just fresher and sharper and it is really disappointing for the huge crowd that showed up in Castlebar.

Very disappointing

“I don’t really have the words to sum up what happened. It is just very disappointing . . . I feel sorry for the fans. But that is Division One. No game is easy unfortunately. If it was, we would be in the final or semi-final every year. . .

“We have one against Donegal at home and then against Cork. We have to look forward to those but we have to look back at tonight to see why we didn’t do too well. We just have to fight back and hopefully get something out of the last few games. I am just bitterly disappointed tonight.”

It is not about whether Mayo respond positively in their remaining league fixtures: they probably will do. What is more important is whether they deal with whatever gnawing doubts and fears which this lesson by Dublin may have left. If they thrash it all out and get to the root cause of why they were so helpless against one of their chief rivals for the All-Ireland title, then they may just be able to transform what was a scarring night into a valuable defeat.