Colin Sheridan: During the off-season all perspective is lost in Mayo

The only thing more draining than watching Mayo lose All-Irelands is the fallout afterwards. There is little, if any, duality of thought. Only absolutes.

Mayo manager James Horan talks to his players: The only thing more draining than watching Mayo lose All-Irelands is the fallout afterwards. There is little duality of thought; only absolutes. You are either with us or against us. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach

F Scott Fitzgerald got a lot wrong. He probably fell for the wrong woman, for starters. Poor Zelda was about as reliable as a junior footballer back from a summer in Boston with a chip on her shoulder — and she was twice as bad on the beer.

However, every now and then the great American dreamer got it right. A case in point was his assertion that the sign of first-rate intelligence was the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. He argued that we should be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.