Mayo refuse to surrender on the most trying of days

Any person who still doubts the mettle, heart and bravery of Mayo’s footballers should head for a dark room, throw away the key and hang their head in shame. Last Sunday at Croke Park, these heroic men in red and green were as resolute as any team we have even seen on a sports field.

In the context of so many hard luck stories and heartache for this Mayo squad, to still have the guts and character to salvage a result after the concession of two freakiest first-half goals, was the ultimate badge of honour. Regardless of the outcome in Saturday week’s replay, they can never be accused of a soft centre again.

Though the difficult wet conditions had a serious impact on the quality of football, it only added to the sheer physicality of a gripping and absorbing struggle for supremacy. Mayo simply weren’t prepared to take a backwards step and their manic hunger really rattled an out of sorts Dublin who, incredibly, didn’t register a score of their own until the 31st minute.

It was only one of the bizarre features of Gaelic football’s most celebrated day. Not a single Dublin player had raised a flag by that juncture, but they still led by two points after both Kevin McLoughin and Colm Boyle had the awful misfortune to deflect the ball into their own net. One would have been demoralising enough, but for it to happen twice against a background of Mayo’s repeated hard luck and bad luck, their players could have been forgiven for sinking to their knees in despair and finally accepting the sporting Gods are not in their corner.

Somehow, Stephen Rochford’s warriors had the fibre and mentality to recover from that outrageous catastrophe. It would have been easy for their dressing room to be left wallowing in self-pity at half time, but, instead, they admirably regrouped before reeling off the first five points of the second half. It was a show of defiance which must have electrified their supporters.

To be honest, most of us thought they were already a busted flush at the break. Mayo had done so much right in the opening half; had got their match ups right; had rattled Dublin with their intensity; and had nullified nearly all the opposition’s main threats; and still trailed by 2-4 to 0-5. It was a shocking injustice, but they didn’t flinch. Looking into their souls, the Mayo players refused to accept their plight and drove on like men possessed on the resumption.

Only for some careless use of possession, notably from hard-working midfielder Seamus O’Shea, Mayo would probably have pulled off one of the truly great sporting triumphs. Over the 77 plus minutes, they were the better team but when you are trailing by three points against a side of Dublin’s stature and the clock running against you, a draw still represents an excellent outcome after captain Cillian O’Connor came up with that priceless equaliser deep into added time.

Read John’s column in full in this week’s Connacht Tribune.