As flies to wanton boys were Mayo to the gods today - or at least O'Connor, O'Shea et al could have been forgiven for thinking it at times during their side's All-Ireland final against Dublin at Croke Park.
Every sinew of muscle that strained, every bead of sweat and blood that poured out of their bodies was done with a level of physical, mental and almost spiritual commitment that most of us cannot possibly fathom.
And yet, every time Hope dared to dance in their hearts, Fate tuned the music to Dublin's favour. Their two own goals were the snake for Mayo; the option the setbacks provided was the tantalising apple.
Give in. Accept defeat. Return home to pats on the back, to commendations of bravery. To excuses that would be both easy and deserved. To no-one who could fault their effort, desire or dedication to the Mayo jersey.
Dublin played worse than anyone could ever have imagined, and yet they led by three points on sixty-eight minutes. David Clarke mishits a kickout and Diarmuid Connolly, whose image had loomed large over this contest in the build-up, strokes over a point to the triumphant chorus of the Hill.
In that moment, defeat seemed inevitable. We nodded to each other and that strange, irrational part of us was satisfied that what we expected to pass had been carried out dutifully and as anticipated. Yet we pained for Mayo and their perpetual torment.
But a feature of Mayo in their good times has been the loping stride of Donal Vaughan, whose seemingly never-ending well of stamina symbolises as much as his mental resolve the incredible spirit of this Mayo side. Vaughan followed up Cillian O'Connor's point with one of his own, and when the ball fell into Aidan O'Shea's hands time paused, as if itself uncertain as to whether it wished to witness what followed.
His wide seemed destined to cruelly fulfil Joe Brolly's pre-match summation of him as a player who "disappears when it is brought to him hard". Mayo's most high-profile player would leave Brolly's description of his team as "celebrity losers" hanging in the air, stinging, ringing in their ears for months to come.
But O'Connor floated over a point that we barely believed. He removed harsh reality from in front of us and replaced it with his own truth. At that point, the support of their county mattered not. The backing of their friends and family was unimportant. The only thing that they had was what lay within them, how much of their destiny they themselves believed they could control at the end of a match that had suggested that amounted to nothing.
Brolly suggested that after Mayo lost to Kerry in 2014 they took the "easier" option, the option to "blame someone else and go back to their sponsorship deals and their All-Star trips and their self-pity".
If this game has proved anything, it's that when self-pity looms over them, caressing their tired shoulders, beckoning them into an embrace, this Mayo team have it inside them to do something that most of us, if we're honest, would not be able to do.
Look it in the eye and walk, steadfastly, the other way.
SEE ALSO: 16 Of The Best Images From A Drama-Filled All-Ireland Final
SEE ALSO: Joe Brolly Vows To Wear Mayo Jersey In RTÉ Studio As Promise To Deceased Girl
Photo by David Maher/Sportsfile
