The journey home from Castlebar last night was a pleasant one for Dublin manager Jim Gavin and his players.

The league holders, who welcomed back Paul Flynn and Diarmuid Connolly to their starting 15, returned to winning ways in impressive fashion with a 2-18 to 0-10 victory over Mayo.

"The performance is what we went after this evening and we got it in both halves," Gavin said to Setanta Sports shortly after the final whistle.

"To score 2-12 from play and concede six points from play, that was defensively a good performance.

"That was part of the process. There's great belief in what we're doing amongst the squad, players put in great work over the last couple of weeks and practice went very well during the week.

"So, all told, a good week for us."

The team in sky blue currently have five points to their credit with two games to go. Is Gavin confident they can make the last four?

"That's not our kind of focus if I'm honest. We're just looking at one game at a time. We've some more players to come back in two weeks time when we host Derry. That's a big game for us as well, they've been moving very well.

"We're looking for performances from all of our players. If that comes then we'll get the results and we'll see where that takes us."

On the return of his All-Star half-forward duo, the manager said: "They're outstanding players and they're a big part of the squad. They're big team players first and foremost. They created a great energy in our sessions this week and it's good to have them back."

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