IT was kind of funny - in a sadistic sort of a way - watching, and listening, as the Mayo fans went through the gamut of emotions against Dublin last month, the latest high speed rollercoaster on the unrelenting Six Flags of life that following their county has become.
Penned in against a sea of green and red in the Hogan Stand, some of the language, the first half in particular, would have made many a grown man blush. As Dublin reasserted their natural role as Gaelic football’s masters of the universe, Mayo - when they weren’t chasing shadows - converted only four out of 10 shots at the posts.
Aidan O’Shea stared off into the Hill, eyes eventually dropping to the ground when his 21st minute mark from the 14 metre line clipped the outside of the upright on its way wide. Going in six points behind against your nemesis, the team who have always found a way to beat you, and with nothing – nothing – going your way… how do you overcome that?
Of course, almost three weeks down the line, we know the answer to that question. Conditioning played a huge part. Substitutions were significant. But it was the fearlessness with which Mayo approached the second half that ultimately sapped the souls from their opponents.
Mayo continued to make mistakes, continued to kick wides as the pressure was ramped up. The supporters nearby were turning the air all different shades of blue when substitute James Carr sent his shot wide with Dublin still two up heading into added time.
In extra-time, with the foot on Dublin’s throats, there was no slackening off, no letting up. And, in the end, they got their rewards.
There are plenty in Tyrone who would have cast admiring glances out west – not just for this All-Ireland semi-final success, but the full throttle way in which the current Connacht kingpins have risen to the occasion on big days across the last five years.
In 2016 they edged out the Red Hands on the way to the final, beat Kerry in the last four the following year, Donegal in a de facto All-Ireland quarter-final in 2019.
And while Tyrone were effectively swatted aside by Jim Gavin’s juggernaut in the 2017 semi, and well enough beaten by the end of the 2018 decider, Mayo’s brand of controlled chaos pushed Dublin to the very edge in consecutive All-Ireland finals.
They may not have the Celtic crosses to show for it, but their approach took them closer than anybody else had managed in an era of complete and utter dominance.
That ferocity, that abandon - from a relatively new-look side - was to the fore again when the Dubs’ legs were swept from beneath them on August 14. The Red Hands followed suit last weekend, swarming Kerry to pull off a stunning upset at Croke Park.
So what was different? Had Tyrone really changed that much? Sure there’s more long balls going in, fewer bodies retreating when opponents are in possession, but a water-tight defence was still the key to storming the Kingdom?
Colm Cavanagh offered a bit of insight earlier this week. Over the course of a 25 minute Zoom call on Wednesday, the former Tyrone midfielder used the word ‘fear’ five times when reflecting on the final years of his involvement at inter-county level under Mickey Harte.
“I would have said this last couple of years watching Tyrone and playing with Tyrone that there was an awful lot of playing with the handbrake on and an awful lot of fear of making mistakes.
“I don’t know what that is but being part of those teams you just knew you were going to get read up in a video analysis or whatever it was, and boys were nearly afraid to take them chances.
“While watching Tyrone this year, there’s no doubt the guys made plenty of mistakes at the weekend and have done in the games gone by, but they are definitely taking a lot more risks and they are getting the rewards for it.”
At the very top end of sport, how an athlete controls their emotions, and the manner in which they are enabled to control them, is absolutely critical.
Mike Tyson garnered a reputation as ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ during the late ’80s/early ’90s. But Dubliner Joe Egan, a former sparring partner, revealed that ‘Iron Mike’ was always afraid in the changing room before a fight.
In those moments, trainer Cus D’Amato would always say the same thing.
“There’s a very fine line between the coward and the hero.”
Once he ducked beneath that top rope, Tyson was often unstoppable. He mastered fear and made it his friend.
“Fear is like fire,” he wrote in his autobiography, Undisputed Truth.
“If you learn to control it, you let it work for you. If you don’t learn to control it, it’ll destroy you and everything around you.”
In team sports in particular, fear can become contagious. With his ear to the ground, Colm Cavanagh has clearly got a sense of a different outlook under Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher. The two-time Allstar even described how Conor McKenna, after returning from the AFL last year, was surprised at what he found.
“I actually heard one of the lads saying that when he came in, he said ‘lads, you’re all playing nearly with fear, you’re afraid to make mistakes’,” said Cavanagh.
“The guys, even chatting to a few of them, they’ll tell you the same, that they are definitely playing with a lot more freedom.”
Saturday week offers the best opportunity either Mayo or Tyrone will have of ending their wait for Sam. Bravery, and a willingness to own the pressure, to run the gauntlet of risk, brought them to this stage.
Both sets of players would do well to remember the words of Cus D’Amato when they cross the white line on September 11.
