Would a Mayo win be the greatest argument for player power?

Player power. As frowned upon phrases in Gaelic games go, it’s right up there. The alliteration only goes to underline its perceived foulness.

What Mayo did last autumn wasn’t done lightly, certainly not as casually as those who linked the Connacht semi-final defeat to Galway with the opposition to Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes. Connacht was a conquered domain; it merely offered a step to this Mayo group and that evidently wasn’t enough of a motivation.

It’s stressed ad nauseam that uprisings, especially against managers, don’t work. After Páidí Ó Sé was removed as Kerry manager in 2003, a strong player group expressed their dissatisfaction but not to the point of withdrawing their services. A year later, they were All- Ireland champions under Jack O’Connor.