At half-time, even the most cynical Mayo fan must have felt their blood pressure rise

As the hawks patrolled the skies above Croke Park on Saturday evening, Mayo folk averted their gaze from the carcass of their rollercoaster season, and looked west, long into the autumnal night.
Silence — most Mayo people have learned on the car journeys home through the years — is something you can actually hear. Hanging within it like sulphur is the question each one of them has been forced to ask since forever: when it comes to Mayo football, which is more important, love or truth?