Finding a way past centre-back Cian O'Sullivan is the key to upsetting the odds against Dublin, says Jim McGuinness.

The Sky Sports pundit, who famously masterminded Dublin's demise in the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final, told SunSport: "A question was asked of Dublin in 2014.

"They came back in 2015 and answered that question. The answer was their centre-back. He filled a void for me.

"He gave them a structure defensively, 'You're not going to penetrate us any more, we're not going to concede goals, we're going to be difficult to beat'.

"But they also retained a lot of the offensive stuff - their kick-outs, their transition to attack, their kicking game.

"Teams must look at that and say, 'They've made that shift, how do we make a shift to beat that?'"

The former Tír Chonaill boss believes Mayo spurned a glorious opportunity to put one over Jim Gavin's in last year's semi-final.

"For me, Mayo had a very good opportunity last year. They had Barry Moran, who's 6ft 4in or 6ft 5in, and Aidan O'Shea - two massive men who would need marking inside, so that carries a goal threat.

"The team that beats Dublin will need a very good No 11 who can get on the ball, dictate the pace of the game, score points and make incisions.

"You've got to pull O'Sullivan out of position and if you pull him out of position and he doesn't pick up, that guy has got to get the ball. And when he gets the ball, he's got to have the capacity to do damage.

"If he's doing that and fires it on the diagonal and you have two massive men in there, with maybe a Cillian O'Connor coming on the loop, then you've got an aerial threat inside, a quality forward on the loop and a No 11 who's dictating that space."

He concluded: "You need a very intelligent, structured game-plan and you need very good players to carry it out."

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