“Mayo, the home of passion”
Mayo folk are the most passionate in the whole country. Their football team die with their boots on every time they grace the field, and their followers take over the stands with colour, fervour and infectious pride.
Mayo football people, and not just their players, but their fans too, are obsessed, they are haunted and they hell-bent on reaching the holy grail that has evaded and evaded them.
They just keep coming back for more. Knock them down, knock them back and hurt them, they won’t surrender. It’s as if they love the suffering, it’s become such a part of them that they are embracing it. It’s who they are.
It’s different in the west.
Just imagine if Mayo actually did win Sam. How would they react? They wouldn’t have a clue how to. They’re so used to being filled with knife-edged hope that their lives are based on the edge of a seat.
Sunday was no different as Stephen Rochford’s men mixed the sublime with the ridiculous and in the end left Croke Park in exactly the same place they went into it.
They’ll be back again Saturday for the replay. They’ll always be back, they’re martyrs and they love it.
Spirit. Patience. Emotion. They have it all.
Thanks to Alan Clarke for sending the video our way, It really is brilliant.
