A lacklustre performance by Mayo in this challenge at McHale Park on Saturday evening did nothing to boost confidence ahead of next Saturday's Connacht championship opener against New York which will also be played at the Castlebar venue.

Dublin manager Tommy Carr had plenty to enthuse about as he watched a very committed performance from his team, who were stronger and more committed than Mayo in all departments and should have won this game by a much larger margin.

They would have had Mayo goalkeeper Peter Burke not been in such fine form. In injury time, Ciaran Whelan and impressive full forward Ian Robertson scored the winning points.

Dublin led by 0-8 to 0-6 at halftime with top scorer Mick O'Keeffe causing a lot of problems for the Mayo defence, while Brian Stynes was very much the dominant figure at midfield where Mayo, who were missing three of their top players due to injury, struggled for most of the game.

DUBLIN: D Byrne; P Moran, P Andrews, T Lynch; D Conlon, J Magee, K Galvin; D Honan, B Stynes (0-1); S Connell, J Gavin (0-2), P Ward; B O'Brien (0-3), I Robertson (0-2), M O'Keeffe (0-7). Sub: K Whelan (0-2) for Stynes.

MAYO: P Burke; A Higgins (0-2), K Cahill, G Morley; F Costello, K Mortimer, B Ruane; D Brady, D Heaney; J Nallen (0-1), J Horan (0-3), L McHale; M Moyles (0-1), G Brady (0-3), D Nestor (0-1). Subs: TJ McHugh for McHale, M Smith (1-0) for Moyles.

Referee: M Murphy (Ballinrobe).