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We never do it easy, do we.

The Galway senior footballers will take on Rory Gallagher's Donegal outfit on Saturday evening in round 4A of the football qualifiers at Markievicz Park at 7pm.

There were no surprises across the GAA world as all the expected teams made it through to the next round of their provincial championships in both hurling and football. There was almost a shock of epic proportions in Fraher Field in Waterford as the home side were on the brink of an historic win against Cork in the Munster football championship only for two late points to see the Leesiders through by the slimmest of margins.

It's time for the talking to be done on the pitch. Leaving MacHale Park after Mayo's lethargic performance against Galway, disillusioned and bewildered, I now find myself with a nervous excitement as Mayo have to navigate their way to Croke Park via the qualifier route. Who knows where it will take us. It's a new experience for some of the team and an experience some of the others have only been through once (the nightmare loss to Longford in 2010), which brings its own pressure, lose and you're out. Defeat will mean it will be the first time in six years Mayo won't be making the trip east to play in Croke Park. To coin a phrase from Sir Alex Ferguson “it's squeaky bum time”.

Mayo finally got off the mark after a pulsating battle with Ulster champions Monaghan in Clones last Sunday. Given the situation I feel this was the most important league game Mayo have played in the last 15 years as defeat would surely have left an insurmountable battle to survive in division one, so huge credit has to be given to both management and players. It would also have been the first time since 1994 that Mayo would have lost four games in a row at the start of a league campaign so needless to say Stephen Rochford did not want that statistic on his CV.

My first permanent teaching post was at St Gerald’s College, Castlebar, 20 years ago this September. And having taught in the county for eight years, I appreciate the ravenous and deep rooted desire that exists there for a senior All-Ireland success. The school principal at the time was big Brother Thomas Durnin from the De La Salle Order, and he asked me to bring the Sam Maguire Cup down in 1998. The reaction of the older members of staff was revealing. They would take the canister. Look at it, and then hand it over quickly, with a certain amount of disdain, muttering something like; “I don’t want it. Or want to touch it, unless we have won it ourselves.” 

Mayo qualified for a mouth-watering All-Ireland semi final with Dublin after an emphatic and clinical display against Donegal in the quarter final. I’m not going to lie, I was worried about this one, and I wasn’t sure how Mayo would cope against a team with 14 or 15 players constantly behind the ball. It’s very easy to get the life sucked out you playing against such tactics; in this regard Mayo were superb.