OPINION: Mayo’s attacking style and squad depth bring fresh optimism

“OF course the Mayo GAA public will take all this in their stride…”

So read a message from a Roscommon pal on Sunday night at around 9.40pm.

We must have been first up on League Sunday on RTÉ or something, but I was elsewhere, watching Ballina Stephenites put on a show and a half in their now-annual Lip Sync fundraiser where my uncle, one of my best friends and a host of other great local characters were taking part.

The club has big development plans, which will benefit the community as a whole, and a packed house enjoying an excellent and raucous night of entertainment will have had a welcome effect on the coffers. 

So it was Monday morning before I spotted the message, and it gave me pause for thought, in the aftermath of Mayo’s win over Dublin at the weekend. 

Mayo fans have long been sensitive to how we are perceived outside the county. Having the ignominious distinction of your team failing to win 13 All-Ireland Finals in 36 years is a fairly spiky load to carry, but what’s worse is having the character of those teams and the people in them questioned.

Since 2012, the permanently disappointed have been exposed to the additional indignity of social media, where salt is administered liberally to wounds, rivalry is infused with spite over respect, and the jeers of opposing supporters – usually, it must be said, originating from Dublin and Galway - had to be swallowed on top of the bitter taste of defeat.

The Maroons have piped down a bit of late since realising that if winning finals was easy, everyone would be at it.

The Dubs have also piped down, now that their generational team of superstars has been replaced by a team of, well, not superstars.

Kerry fans are far above such things, of course. Too busy yerra-ing. Roscommon fans remain admirably audacious considering, but we know and they know no-one really cares what they think.

HOPE IN DARK TIMES

Of course, we contributed to all of this, by daring to dream, or believe that “this could be the year”.

Every time I hear the song ‘Sit Down” by Manchester band James, I wonder if the lyrics “I swing from high to deep, extremes of sweet and sour” were written about Mayo’s annual journey through the National League and Championship.

Every January we strapped ourselves in, feeling every win and every defeat with desperation in the marrow of our bones. And naively, we let it be known that we were all in, thus exposing ourselves and our tender little hearts to the inevitable pain of failure and ridicule.  

There is little room for sentimentality in sport, unless you are a winner, but the residual hurt you feel on behalf of the people who have given their all, only to fall short, does linger.

The fierce sense of pride and defensiveness Mayo people harboured for the team of the 2010s was rooted not in football, but in the reaction to the economic crash of 2008; job losses, mass emigration, hollowed out towns and villages. 

It gave us hope in dark times, a sense of pride and something to believe in, and cemented our identity as Mayo people, a phenomenon which far transcended in many ways what happened on the pitch.

This was rarely recognised or acknowledged outside the county, which is why the Mayo public – often fairly - reacted so ferally when teams or management were attacked in the media.

AMUSEMENT

As a result, we became hyper-sensitive about how we are perceived. If we couldn’t be winners, we could be the best supporters in the country.

If our lads were attacked, we could go to battle for them through the screens of our phones. And fans from other counties knew it and took great pleasure in poking the bear. Rising us. And we fell for it, most of the time. 

So Sunday night’s message landed with me, because as gentle as the ribbing was, it might have struck a chord a few years back. I might have reacted defensively.

But taken in the light of Sunday’s win, it amused me. Mayo supporters are different animals now, I think. After hitting a metaphorical rock bottom, crowds dried up, excitement evaporated and many gave up the ghost completely.

There wasn’t a whole lot of joy to be found. Six games into the Andy Moran era, things are looking up. The team is playing – or trying to play - expansive attacking football, the kind that is in our DNA, but that needs refining and polishing.

Fans are responding. Over 15,000 people packed into McHale Park on Sunday, numbers we haven’t seen in a while. 

But – and allow me to emphasise this point – no-one, anywhere, is getting carried away. We’re back, but we’re a bit more cynical.

SUFFICIENT WOBBLES

WHAT was remarkable about Sunday’s six-point win in the sunshine was just how unremarkable it was.

It was a poor enough game, not one that will live long in the memory. It was hard to identify any stand-out moment or individual performance and many of us will have forgotten the detail of it within the week.

It was simply a good outcome, a marker on the road we hope will lead us to better places. No-was was getting particularly excited.

The sense of schadenfreude at the sight of despondent Dublin fans was of course a small bit delicious, but really, no-one really cared all that much. There were moments of flair, but sufficient wobbles to keep everyone’s feet rooted firmly to floor. 

There is of course enjoyment, because we are being entertained with the direct forward play and attacking bravery for which we have been thirsting for half a decade, and the promise it holds.

We are allowed to enjoy that and be excited about it, without being accused of losing our minds.

Life is short, and it is for living. It is not for watching painfully laboured passes around the arc, nor for the rigid suffocation of creativity and adventure.

Life is for taking a few risks, going on a few adventures and seeing lads take on a few shots. If we win a few games along the way, even better. If we lose a few, well, it wouldn’t be the first time.

Andy’s biggest test so far awaits us above in Letterkenny, and it will be a good and welcome test of our progress. I think, actually, that the Mayo GAA public is doing a grand old job of taking this all in our stride. Long may it continue.