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May is preparing to do it again this weekend. Another bloody end to all of Ireland.
Mayo has boasted of his aversion to hype for many years. Every Friday before All-Ireland, Willie Joe Padden is interviewed at Six One in Belmullet and says, “Well, Marty, the build-up is very low-key here this year” as a red and green painted sheep falls out of frame. behind him.
This time, however, it is much more difficult to overdo it. For years, people have wondered what will happen when Mayo finally wins the All-Ireland for real.
Many have envisioned a ‘Last Days of Rome’ setting, a Woodstock-like or VJ Day carnival of euphoria in Times Square or a Sopot pub in 2012 after John Delaney had just walked in.
An unprecedented orgy of celebration and hysteria that continues until the middle of the following year’s championship. Popular mythology has always said that Mayo would do well on the field all year long after winning the big tournament, although this hypothesis probably does not fit the mentality of today’s international footballers.
On Monday, David Brady would get a call from Drivetime and say “you know, it’s like we don’t know how to celebrate here, everyone is taking it easy, but enjoy that quiet sense of satisfaction” while, in the background, a Drunken fans are seen on the roof of the team bus as it crawls to the rhythm of coastal erosion through a sea of drunken revelers on Charlestown’s main drag.
None of this can happen next week, should the unthinkable happen.
Perhaps it is this understanding that gives 2020 a more relaxed vibe than your average May appearance across Ireland.
It could change closer to launch, but the Despair Index doesn’t seem to be registering the same numbers it did in 2013 or 2016. They won’t be free to celebrate this properly even if they win.
If Mayo loses this All-Ireland final, as anticipated, it will be his 10th All-Ireland final defeat since 1989. TENTH! It’s the kind of finals record that could make Jimmy White wince with sympathy.
The record has long been a source of hilarity and schadenfreude for its most bitter opponents, be it the Roscommon boys inclined to boo Andy Moran or the Galway youth who have forgotten the spirit of genius that joined that rivalry in Ha Fallon-Liam McHale. was.
Even the people of the ‘minnows counties’ feel entitled to mock Mayo about his final misfortune. As we know, you are much more open to bar slag if you make it to the finals and keep losing it than if you were never within reach of a roar from them in the first place.
Then there are the Dubs too, for whom the familiarity has generated contempt. There has been a lot of scorn in recent years, most of it coming, strangely, from Dublin, the team that continues to win the finals. (Even when playing in Omagh, Dublin fans still think of May.)
The official line is that Dublin fans didn’t care that Mayo claimed his uniform part of Hill 16 from 2013 onwards, but anecdotally, we’re told it’s the cheekiness with which the Mayo boys worked out what infuriated some Dubs. In this case, it is quite difficult to find concrete examples of disgust (‘standing there on the hill, on the tops of Mayo and all!’ Is all I remember hearing about this).
Elected reps are often perfectly bland in their pronouncements on sporting matters, but Sinn Fein TD Chris Andrews tried to get the ball rolling in the scum marathon by tweeting, “Hopefully Mayo will bottle another final on the 19th.”
The truth of the matter is that this rhetoric feels a bit dated right now.
The increasingly fatalistic narrative about Dublin’s rule is placing the final May performances in a different and more favorable light.
The perception now is that they were doing well to get so close to Dublin all the time.
Indeed, it is necessary for the anti-Dublin radicals to elevate Mayo to Hall of Fame team status and view their various one-point defeats as a series of miraculous feats against all odds, like little Croatia reaching the Final. of the World Cup.
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If you agree, the “bottler” thing is certainly overstated in any case.
As Kevin McStay pointed out this week in his poignant Irish Times article, May was not a favorite for any of the nine Irish finals he has lost since 1989.
They are not clear favorites anyway. Kerry and Mayo were probably regarded as greats heading into the 1997 final, although this was based on the idea that Mayo would regain shape from the previous year. And the way the team gutted Donegal in 2013 convinced some that liberation day would come that year.
For every two finals, May was clearly underdog in the run-up (though we may have to admit they were probably favorites with 20 minutes remaining in the ’96 finale) if the running betting websites had been up and running in that time. moment. )
Anyway, let’s try to get out of this discussion backwards. Too many pub talk about May football descends into exhaustive rankings, of which defeat was actually the hardest to accept.
If they lose, one imagines that 2020 will not rank high.
After last year’s ‘end of an era’ semi-final defeat, Mayo may not have expected to be back in a final so soon. They have received an infusion of young talent and the future looks bright (ish) again. There will be no sleep transition period.
As James Horan told poor reporters, standing in the freezing cold at the rear of Lower Hogan after the semi-final, the youngsters – Mullin, McLaughlin, Conroy – “don’t give a damn about two continents about the past” and he promised a frenzied and enthusiastic approach to the decider.
The ‘quest for the holy grail’ fan experience is best designed to encourage bigotry. May is an extreme example of this phenomenon at stake.
‘Mayo4Sam-ism’ feels like a public religion down there. I have met Mayo people who seem to use the phrase ‘May 4 Sam’ as a standard farewell (usually said in a flat, predetermined tone), regardless of the time of year or whether Mayo is, in fact, still in the championship.
It will be bittersweet and ironic if Mayo, famous for being the most devoted and fanatical fan base in the country, finally wins his All-Ireland with no fans present.
But after 69 years, they will take any All-Ireland. After all, the all-Ireland medals awarded this weekend will not contain an inscription detailing the size of the final attendance.
Watch the all-Ireland senior soccer final between Dublin and May live on RTÉ2 starting at 3:40 PM on Saturday, listen to the commentary live on RTÉ Radio 1 or follow our live blog on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ app News. The highlights of Saturday’s game (9:55 p.m. RTÉ2).
Follow the all-Ireland senior soccer final between Dublin and Cork with our live blog on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app (starting at 3pm Sunday) or listen to the commentary live on RTÉ Radio 1. The most highlights of Sunday’s game (9:30 pm RTÉ2).
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