Sam is in the hills, but I'd say it will be a brief visit, it's bloody freezing up there. That coupled with the fact that Jim's soldiers will be in counseling for at least six months to help them understand why they did what they did. Jim must be a very persuasive man, a little like Pat Gilroy I guess but more extreme. To make young guys do what they have done must take some serious charisma or money or force.
How many managers throughout the country will be able to convince
their soldiers to do the same thing next year, lets face it, it's definitely of the no pain no gain variety! But this is a new pain, a pain that would take a skilled psychologist a few sessions to make the victim see that it is worth it, is it?
Well that depends on whether or not you bring home the bacon. Think of the mindset of the Mayo team after their All-Ireland defeat to Donegal. Mayo tried something different this year, a new attitude, a new ballsy approach, lacking so much in Mayo teams gone by, everything was perfect, apart from the fact Andy Moran was not available, Horan told them they were ready, their fitness coach told them the same thing and I'm sure their psychologist would have avoided any negative jibes in that direction.
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| "It's OK Michael, it's all over now, sssshhhh" |
But they weren't, so how does that make you feel? Especially if you're from Mayo, to be told you have found the ingredients that have so obviously been missing for the last 61 years or so and that was the final piece of the jigsaw, and to then find out it is still not enough. They say in Mayo, "we'll be back next year" with our new found 'steel', I don't think they will, yet more damage has been done to Mayo's already fragile mentality. As for Donegal, they will be officially become non-human if they can repeat this years climb to the top of Everest, but super-heroes are fictional, and I don't believe in them.
