It’s the hope that kills really, isn’t it? You would think after 68 years of the same old story, Mayo fans would know better at this stage. Maybe that’s what is so admirable about them - they always think there’s a chance.
For all they did right in the game, the behemoth that is Dublin swatted them away as if they were nothing more than a mere annoyance.
But they did do a lot right, perhaps they even offered Kerry a blueprint on how to get the job done, according to Anthony Moyles.
“Mayo did show a bit of a blueprint on how to get the match-ups correct,” Moyles said on OTB AM.
“I think Mayo showed areas where Dublin can be got at but I think ultimately that amount of work that was required to stay in the game and ahead [was too much],” he added.
The narrative around this most recent defeat to Dublin is that it has finally ended this Mayo team’s chances of winning an All-Ireland.
It’s not to say that's wrong but perhaps more of the conversation should focus on what Mayo did to Dublin before the Boys in Blue eventually pulled away.
“They put Dublin under massive pressure, they turned them over on numerous occasions and they made fellas be very uncomfortable on the ball. They got their match-ups correct with regard to certain guys like McCaffrey.
“Mayo solved a lot of problems. Scully was out of it first half, Kilkenny had a poor first half. Howard was really the only one with Con O’Callaghan in the first half who was really stepping up," he said.
Championship droughts
Mayo are more like the Boston Red Sox than the Chicago Cubs when comparing famous championship droughts.
The Cubs went 108 years without winning the World Series and they never truly had any hope in that span. Before they won in 2016, the last time they reached the World Series was 1945.
The Red Sox, by comparison, had far more heartbreak. Losing in four times before finally triumphing in 2004. It was the hope that really killed the Red Sox fans, so often they believed they were on the cusp of doing it - just like Mayo.
Unlike the Cubs and Red Sox though, Mayo’s desperate search will continue and this team will begin to break up. But as always with Mayo, there is hope that tomorrow will be better.
“Even if fellas don’t put their hands up, there needs to be a bit of a cleanout.
"They’ll lose Higgins, Moran, maybe Boyle and the two O’Shea lads potentially. Vaughan will probably go too. It does rip the heart out of that Mayo side.
“Interesting point though, talking to Malachy Clerkin yesterday, the Mayo team that started and ended the game was on average age, younger than Dublin’s. They did have a lot of young lads in the team and on the pitch,” Moyles said.
Perhaps it won’t too long before the West is awake again.
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