“OF course the Mayo GAA public will take all this in their stride…”

So read a message from a Roscommon pal on Sunday night at around 9.40pm.

We must have been first up on League Sunday on RTÉ or something, but I was elsewhere, watching Ballina Stephenites put on a show and a half in their now-annual Lip Sync fundraiser where my uncle, one of my best friends and a host of other great local characters were taking part.

The club has big development plans, which will benefit the community as a whole, and a packed house enjoying an excellent and raucous night of entertainment will have had a welcome effect on the coffers.

So it was Monday morning before I spotted the message, and it gave me pause for thought, in the aftermath of Mayo’s win over Dublin at the weekend.

Mayo fans have long been sensitive to how we are perceived outside the county. Having the ignominious distinction of your team failing to win 13 All-Ireland Finals in 36 years is a fairly spiky load to carry, but what’s worse is having the character of those teams and the people in them questioned.

Since 2012, the permanently disappointed have been exposed to the additional indignity of social media, where salt is administered liberally to wounds, rivalry is infused with spite over respect, and the jeers of opposing supporters – usually, it must be said, originating from Dublin and Galway - had to be swallowed on top of the bitter taste of defeat.

The Maroons have piped down a bit of late since realising that if winning finals was easy, everyone would be........

© The Mayo News