Defensive progress indicates Mayo ready for final step

Aidan O’Shea is right. No sooner had he completed his latest wrecking-ball display then he’d tell reporters before they’d tell him, “The reality is we’re always going to be judged on whether we get over the line.”

Last Saturday night though there was a telling indicator that this year may finally be the one when their remarkable journey sees them getting to that destination.

This Mayo side have registered all kinds of records in All-Ireland quarter-finals that reflect its continuous, though for some too painful and incremental, progress.