Sometimes when we are so focused on how to deal with the emotions of victory and loss, we are thrown aside by the void that appears when whatever we are watching denies us any of those options.
Instead the expected disappointment of this evening’s match dissipated for a few short minutes into the possibility of elation and then left us in the no man’s land of numbness.
A draw and replay are great if you’ve been thrown a lifeline.
They’re a heartbreaker if they have denied you the chance of victory.
And for the fans, they also come with the added complication of having to start that ticket search all over again.
And when you analyse it and try to find positives in the drawn game, you come to the conclusion that it hasn’t brought your county any bit closer to winning an-Ireland.
Everything from this game can be torn up.
All it will do is complicate matters.
Give you notions about how good you are, so that you start the next game from this point rather than from where you started the drawn game — and that can take the edge of your performance.
The replay will differ greatly from this game. If anything, replays are cagier because of the renewed formalities and familiarities.
Tactically, they are neither the plan for Game 1 or Game 2, but a hybrid of emotion and raw skill.
And tension-filled pleasantries from the first game.
Remarkably, this is the first time the final has been replayed in 16 years.
It’s time now for extra time to be introduced at finals.
I’d rather be sitting here now having won or lost, rather they having to go through the entire rigmarole again.
For the people who bought their tickets, do they not deserve to see this title fought to conclusion?
Think of the feckers who bought the €12,000 tickets on eBay.
Think of the Fine Gael senators who heartbreakingly may be denied a chance to see this again.
We saw last year how close run the semi-final drawn game was.
And then in the replay, the game just ran away from us?
So having renewed hope next week just because we played well in the drawn game is misplaced hope. It shows we can live with Dublin, but then it showed Dublin can under-perform and still not suffer defeat.
In reality, you have to start from scratch, the element of surprise is removed.
The only real winners from having a replay in Dublin at teatime on a Saturday night are Copperface Jacks; and the coffers of the GAA, who will pocket a cool €7million from having to stage this lucrative sellout match at primetime.
True there were many positives to take from our latest All-Ireland Final appearance, but overall, it had the bizarre almost comical nature again of the big time occasions we have become accustomed to blowing.
To have Dublin ahead in the first half, despite none of their players having scored was manna from heaven for the “bad luck if we had ducks we’d drown” merchants. Short of throwing the ball into our own net, we had done just as about as much as we could to self-implode, while still playing well at the other end of the field, trying to save ourselves from ourselves.
It was as if we needed a sweeper to mark our own defenders.
Both own goals came about from solid Dublin goal chances, but still the definite direction of the ball on each occasion was firmly dictated by a Mayo foot.
These were not in-off pinball wizard shots that have the Dubious Goals Panel working late weekends. These were solid classic own goals; a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and then finding yourself there, doing the bloody wrong thing.
Oscar Wilde said once “to score one own goal is unfortunate. To score two is fackin’ crazy,” or something like that after some game at West Ham, and at halftime, the country was feeling sorry for us again.
And we responded with great spirit and cut that lead just after the break. We had to give ourselves a chance to win and we set about that with gusto.
But it was that kind of game — strange refereeing decisions, a bit of handbags here and there and a dark, drizzly atmosphere. There was none of the sunshine of the replay last year. Nobody got sunburnt.
So who holds the aces going onto the replay on October 1 — Will the Dubs be as poor again? Or were they poor because we made them that way? And if we made them that way, will they be more wary of us now?
Will Mayo’s gameplan (if you could call it that ) have almost caught them out and now be open for all to see?
Will Jim Gavin be more wary of us now and use his troops accordingly? Today he did not have any more big guns left on the bench, no supersubs to see his team over the line. Will that be a factor when he comes to his team selection next week?
Is the element of surprise gone? Or are we mature enough to evolve into another system next week?
Despite the draw, Mayo didn't really play very well. Our distribution and decision-making on passing in the final third was poor. It wasn't just the Dubs who can pull the under-perform card.
Of course, on that darkish night in McHale Park when we lost to Galway, we would have given our right arm to snatch a draw against Dublin in a final thriller, yet when it happened, there was still disappointment.
Mayo have evolved this summer from what they were. At least today they didn’t disappear for 50 minutes and play in spurts. They put it up to the Dubs, having faced the most ridiculous of misfortune, and they showed the fortitude to survive.
Fortitude and character are grand, but can you put butter on them?
Undoubtedly Stephen Rochford and the entire group have the character to lessen expectation again and heighten performance, though it will be hard after securing a draw in the most bizarre of circumstances.
What they have done though is make their fans unbelievably proud of them.
We might not have won anything yet, but that might all change on Saturday week.
Under the lights in Dublin on a Saturday night.
It’s gonna be pure rock’n’roll, with maybe a bit of country and western thrown in for good measure.
