Mayo's late collapse in the All-Ireland semi-final replay provoked a degree of satisfaction in those who revel in tradition, ie. those sorts who are comforted by the phrase 'the more things change, the more they stay the same'.
Such people are inclined to look at Mayo's current generation and wearily nod their head - 'sure why are they bothering? They'll never win. It's written.' They delight in mock sighing about the 'same old Mayo' after each crushing defeat.
Lee Keegan has little time for this mentality and is adamant that this crop of Mayo players are different. He talked down this defeatism in the Western People.
People are sick of saying same old Mayo, but it’s not really same old Mayo because this group is a unique kind of group. We are challenging these teams year-in, year out and we are still producing big days in Croke Park.
I think that it is very to say this is typical Mayo, losing a game that they could have won. Dublin were just better than us on the day and that’s the reality. Some people have to accept that. I’ve accepted it nearly... It's just a percent, we need to get that one percent and drive home, because this group is good enough to win it.
Lee makes a salient point here about the semi-final loss. After all, if you examine those seven All-Ireland finals they lost between 1989 and 2013, could one honestly say Mayo were proper favourites going into any of them? Maybe, they just always came up against a better team?
