WE ARE IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL.. AGAIN
STEPHEN Rochford is convinced that Mayo will “die with their boots on” – whether if it’s against Galway in Castlebar on Sunday, or beyond.
Mayo’s character has been tested time and time again with each disappointment at the business end of the All-ireland series, but up until now they have bounced back each summer.
Question marks have been raised about their ability to do so this summer, given the length of time the majority of their players have been on the road.
Proof for his claim, the
Mayo supremo says, came in Ballybofey in March when his side overturned a three-point deficit to earn the point they needed to stay in the top tier in the league.
“It gave us more concrete evidence that certainly the fight is very much within the group,” said Rochford.
“Three points down with the clock turning red above in Ballybofey, where no one has won a game in eight years, it would have been very easy for fellas to drop the head.
“But to come back with three scores has certainly reaffirmed that the boys are in it for the long haul, in it to die with their boots on.
“And it wasn’t just experienced guys – that was young guys, some of them with some experience, some of them with not as much. But they were all contributing.”
Rochford took some time out after last September’s All-ireland final loss to Dublin before committing himself to the cause once more.
He puts that down now to reflection on family and work commitments, and a desire to find out if the necessary supports were in place for another crack at winning the Sam Maguire.
He insists the latest loss to Dublin hadn’t hit harder than any of the others.
“Just knowing that we prepared well, we played well but we didn’t play as well as we had aspired to in that final.
“But that’s the potential that I still see in the group.”
That potential will certainly be tested to the full by a Galway side going for the three-in-a-row over their main rivals in Connacht.
“They’ve obviously moved on well from the 2016 team that beat us, and the 2017 team that beat us,” admitted Rochford.
“So I expect a tough, physical, proper Connacht tie.”