So where do vanquished Mayo go from here?
AS he surveyed the media pack gathered around him, Stephen Rochford saw broken clocks rather than human faces.
The team that have charmed with their courage and whose spirit, time and again, has spited predictions of their demise, were back in the funeral home.
This time it was at the end of another thrill-a-minute, heroic battle — the kind of contest which they have played the injured party to for more than half a decade — except this time, they have not been laid out in Croke Park or even the relative grandeur of the Gaelic Grounds.
Instead, it’s St Conleth’s Park. The team that demanded to lie in state so the football nation could pay its respect had to settle for a good old fashioned house wake.
But even though Rochford can tell us what we are thinking, that is not how he sees it.
‘That is something that has been said since 2014 so someone was going to be right with it.
‘I don’t necessarily think that is today. There are four or five guys who came into that group over the season who are in their early 20s.
‘There is a lot of good quality players in the county. There may be guys who won’t be available next year but either way Mayo football will be competitive in 2019,’ he protested.
Most likely, he is half right. Mayo will be competitive next year, but to suggest that what made this group such a stand-out team this decade was their competitiveness is a bit like suggesting that Lionel Messi is a good player.
It is a core truth but it does not come close to fleshing out the quality of character which defined them and it is hard to believe that next year that will not be diluted in a significant way.
It may well be too early for several of the older players to make a final decision, but that won’t stop the speculation which began the moment the final whistle blew here.
It is possible that we may just have seen the last of David Clarke, Keith Higgins, Colm Boyle, Donal Vaughan and Andy Moran here.
Seamie O’Shea and Tom Parsons watched from the stand and the former’s fitness issues and the brutal ligament damage which the latter suffered when dislocating his knee against Galway raises huge questions as to whether either of them will make it back.
It’s hard to ignore the sense that Mayo lost their pulse in that horror moment when Parsons sustained that injury.
That was partly because of his influence as a key driving force, but mainly because Mayo’s constant weakness has been their lack of depth.
James Durcan was the only fresh face starting here and such was Rochford’s reluctance to go to the bench, he waited until 13 minutes from the end to seek fresh legs.
The horrible truth facing Mayo is that when they go into transition, there will be nothing seamless about it.
But, then, Kildare serve as a reminder that anything is possible in sport.
The qualifier wins on the road to Derry and Longford helped, but it was making the stance in defiance of Croke Park to ensure that they brought it all back home which has created a bond which could serve them well long-term.
‘If that whole controversy wasn’t there this week, the Kildare supporters would probably have been a little indifferent towards us because they didn’t really trust us before today.
‘But they really got behind us after the stand we took,’ admitted Kildare coach Ronan Sweeney.
It really is a remarkable turnaround and their defiance extended far beyond fighting for home turf.
They also defied one of football’s core rules which declares that the team who dominates primary possession wins.
For 50 odd minutes here Mayo ruled in the air — mainly through an outstanding performance from Aidan O’Shea — and on the ground and yet could never shake Kildare off.
That was in the main through some excellent individual performances, not least from the outstanding Paul Cribbin who sniped for four points.
But it was their conviction that made the difference in a contest so tight that the scores were level on 10 occasions, as they came with some huge plays at the death.
None bigger than the great 65thminute Peter Kelly interception, which started a move that ended with the defender punching them into a lead they wouldn’t lose.