Only a Mayo supporter can tell you where Saturday's All Ireland semi-final defeat to Kerry ranks in comparison to other high profile losses for the county, but for midfielder Aidan O'Shea, he is still hurting.
The 24-year-old joined us on Off The Ball tonight, days after the replay in Limerick and said: "It's difficult to take. We expected to come out of that game winning and into a third All Ireland final in a row. It's difficult not being there. I've heard people saying it was a great game but it's very hard to appreciate it coming out the wrong side of it. For us it's a terrible loss and it's probably doubled by the fact that it's probably the end of an era with James [Horan] going as well."
Listen to the full interview above via the podcast
O'Shea felt Mayo were too careless in possession in the first 20 minutes of the replay and did not convert periods of dominance into points on the scoreboard early in extra time.
He also described his clash of heads with team-mate Cillian O'Connor which left him "dazed" and with a bad cut.
"I don't know exactly what transpired in the mean-time when we came back onto the pitch but Cillian was allowed to be used for the blood rule and you can see on the tape that James is talking to me about coming back on because he wanted to make sure that I was 100 per cent right because I wasn't a blood sub. I was another sub coming back on. I don't know exactly why that happened because it was obvious there was a lot of blood on me at the time. That's why James and me were in consultation with the linesman."
O'Shea also revealed that the squad had an inkling that manager James Horan would step away at the end of this season and the emotional moment when the decision was announced to the players.
"We were in the dressing room and emotions were running high. James said a few words and then we regrouped and had a meal. I suppose we had an inkling over the year that this was going to be James' last year."
He also gave his take on the other semi-final between Dublin and Donegal, which resulted in a fantastic win for the latter over the 2013 champions.
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