Amazing omen for Mayo as they ram Pat Spillane’s stupid words down his throat

Armagh had a tough run of it too, you know.

• 1999 - Armagh lost to Meath in the semi-final
• 2000 - Armagh lost to Kerry after a replay in the semi-final
• 2001 - Armagh lost to Galway by a point in the qualifiers

So what? You ask. The simple answer is what Meath, Kerry and Galway all had in common back then. Champions. Champions. Champions. One year later, Joe Kernan guided Armagh to their first and only ever All-Ireland football championship as they saw off Kerry in the decider at Croke Park in 2002. It's a tough place to be, on the brink. When you're so close to something that you're virtually licking it, it's the most teasing thing in the world but it can be the most infuriating thing in the world too. This Mayo team only lose to the winners .

• 2012 - Mayo lost to Donegal in the final
• 2013 - Mayo lost to Dublin in the final
• 2014 - Mayo lost to Kerry in the semi-final after a replay
• 2015 - Mayo lost to Dublin in the semi-final after a replay
• 2016 - Mayo lost to Dublin in the final after a replay

No-one will ever get this close without winning the thing ever again. Armagh have been in those shoes before though - not the same, unforgiving, blister-inducing shoes but a similar fit - and eventually they got there. They even lost to Tyrone in the final in 2003. Four times in five years they lost to the eventual winners - four different winners. All it took was one time though. On the latest edition of SportsJOE's GAA Hour football podcast, Orchard county native Steven McDonnell was having absolutely none of this writing off of Mayo. Pat Spillane was scathing in his review of Stephen Rochford's side after their defeat to Monaghan in round one of the league last week. Dick Clerkin and David Brady didn't see too much to be hopeful about going forward after that same loss either. McDonnell and Colm Parkinson weren't in the mood on The GAA Hour for writing a team off in February and the Armagh legend certainly wasn't up for doing it with this Mayo team. He's been there before.

"The Monaghan result won't make a telling difference come the business end of the championship," McDonnell dismissed straight away. "I'll tell you, one of the games that played a big part in changing the mindset in Armagh was when we went to play Kerry in 2001 in the semi-final and we drew with them. It went to a replay and we drew with them again - it was in extra time of that game that they kicked on and won and they won the All-Ireland. "That was the moment that we said to ourselves as a team, 'We are not far away here. We are not far away.'"

Both McDonnell and Parkinson pointed to the example of Dublin too. They were considered "serial losers" - Wooly's words - before they finally got over the line in 2011. McDonnell, again, alludes to the fact that they lost to Cork in 2010 and should've won. The turning point.

"I believe if you keep knocking on the door, eventually it will open," McDonnell said. "We knocked on the door for about three or four seasons before it actually did open for us."

Mayo went to Tralee on Saturday evening, six days after being written off, and they beat Kerry 1-10 to 0-15 to the visitors. It won't have much of a bearing come the championship. But Mayo are going to be in the mix again. Mayo are going to be knocking again. Listen to the full discussion on Mayo's chances from 27:00 below.