Rubbing salt into the wounds.
Somehow, Mayo are back into their seventh successive All-Ireland Semi-Final after going about it in the most Mayo-ist way possible.
Knocked out of Connacht in early June by neighbours Galway, there were draws, replays, near-misses and comebacks in their long path back to the last four.
You see, watching Mayo isn’t something that you like doing. Nobody has ever said ‘oh sure we’ll have great craic at this Mayo game tomorrow’.’
It’s an emotional rollercoaster.
You absolutely hate that you love them because they send your heart into overdrive. Losing a seven-point lead to Cork, looking like you’re going to exit the championship and then finally winning after extra-time, sure that would have anyone looking for the defibrillator.
Now, imagine that and imagine it happening all over again with Roscommon the following week in the quarter-final.
Sweet mother of Jeebus, sure you couldn’t be doing that every week.
So, when Mayo fans entered Croke Park on Bank Holiday Monday for the Roscommon replay, they were hoping for another great escape by the boys in the green and red but instead, found themselves at a game that was over shortly after it begun.
It came as a shock to every Mayo fan in the stadium and some of the cocky fans who had been quiet all year decided that it was the perfect time to come out of their shell.
One of those fans was former Mayo player, Michael Conroy. The game wasn’t even over when Conroy took to Twitter to kick the poor Rossies while they were already down and out…
In my day you were never allowed train in Croke Park 2 weeks before an All Ireland semi final. The GAA must have changed the rules 🤔😇.
— Michael conroy (@ConroyMickey) August 7, 2017
His tweet read:
“In my day you were never allowed train in Croke Park 2 weeks before an All-Ireland Semi Final. The GAA must have changed the rules.”
After almost dumping Mayo out of the Championship the weekend before, it wasn’t the sort of dig the Roscommon players, managers and fans deserved.
Mayo fans can enjoy the hammering for the time being but with the men from the west coming up against Kerry on 20 August (their record against the Kingdom in Croke Park doesn’t read well), it could be a tweet that could come back to haunt them…
