Ending the great hunger: A Mayo tale

“Support for the team fell away at an alarming rate: hardly anyone turned up for some of the championship preparation games. In fact, the situation had got so bad that no one cared when or where the panel was holding their training sessions. Every other week, there was news of players being dropped from the panel or leaving through lack of interest. Injuries too were preventing any real progress being affected and, in the circumstances, the trip to Carrick-on-Shannon on June 23 to play Leitrim in the semi-final was one of hope rather than confidence.”

Everyone has their preconceptions about Mayo football but most base them around recent times. The All-Ireland losses in 1996, ’91, 2004 and ’06.

Depending on what kind of person you are, they are the butt of the joke; the sorry tale of perennial woe or, most likely, a bit of the two.