We’ve had more uplifting weeks than the one just ending in following Mayo’s footballers.

Two Connacht championship defeats to Roscommon in just four days have blown to smithereens whatever hopes supporters may have had about the prospects this year of both the county’s senior and U20 teams.

It’s as best to start with the latter, who lost out by three points after extra-time to the Rossies at Tuam Stadium on Wednesday night in an enthralling Connacht U20 final. Anyone who was there or who watched the game online cannot but have been impressed by the enormous shift both teams put in and the commitment they showed in pursuit of the silverware on offer.

Mayo could and should have won it in normal time. They certainly had the chances to do so but, on a night where basic handling errors repeatedly let them down as they needlessly spilled ball after ball, it was the greater composure of their opponents and their ability to strike for crucial scores at key moments that helped propel them to glory instead.

It’s important not to be too critical about the failings of any underage team. This is a development grade and part of any development will be mistakes along the way.

As the saying goes, history is written by the winners. We were content this time last year when the Mayo U20s just about held on to beat Roscommon in the Connacht final on a night in Tuam where they had a late, late fifth goal disallowed.  This time it was the young Rossies who came out on top, thanks to a fifth goal scored at the end of extra-time. You win some and you lose some.

Supporters’ ire about Wednesday’s result – expressed vocally and at times vociferously within the comments on MFT – is, perhaps, best seen as evidence of ongoing frustration about the hiding the county’s senior team suffered against Roscommon in last Sunday’s Connacht semi-final.

Unlike the U20s, the seniors didn’t die with their proverbial boots on. Instead their challenge, such as it was, was comprehensively dismantled by a ravenous second half performance from Mark Dowd’s team, who inflicted the worst ever home defeat that Mayo have suffered to the Primrose and Blue in the championship.

What’s striking is that the manner in which Andy Moran’s charges were taken apart last Sunday was clearly signposted in advance by those contributing to the discussion on MFT.

Concerns have been expressed all year on MFT about Mayo’s backline and the apparent absence of any kind of coherent defensive structure. While many have welcomed the greater emphasis on attack in the county’s playing style this year, the point has been made over and over again by those commenting on MFT that a failure to mind the house was likely to be something we would in time have cause to regret.

There were also ongoing worries expressed about our inability to dominate proceedings around the middle. Winning primary possession and breaking ball – the latter for many years one of our great strengths – are key under the revised playing rules but Mayo were eaten alive in both areas at Castlebar the last day.

Putting the tin hat on our travails were our misfiring restarts, a forward line that was distinctly out of sorts and poor use of the bench. It was, in truth, a day to forget for us.

Only we can’t forget. Nor should we, in light of the challenges that now face us.

Unlike the days of the qualifiers, provincial failure doesn’t usher a county straight to last-chance-saloon. It does, however, deposit you in the room next door.

The scale of the task facing the team in the opening round of the upcoming All-Ireland championship depends hugely on who we get in the draw. We know that whoever we’re drawn against it will be an away match but we don’t yet know who or where that will be.

Kerry in Killarney wouldn’t be top of anyone’s wish list at this stage. Neither would a trip to the likes of Armagh (assuming they beat surprise packets Down in this weekend’s Ulster semi-final) or Dublin, if they manage to upset the odds and beat Louth this weekend – it’s not just for us that times have greatly changed.

Whoever we get drawn against is in the lap of the gods and so it’s a factor that lies beyond our control. What Andy Moran and his backroom team must focus on with the players are those elements that they can control.

Paddy Tally made his name in Gaelic football by becoming a roving guru in the implementation of solid defensive structures. Time is short but we need Paddy to construct a Mayo version of this, road-tested and ready to go for Round 1.

Is it too much to hope that we can go some way towards solving the other significant shortcomings that were so painfully obvious against Roscommon when we next take the field in anger?

Perhaps it is.

However, a greater hunger in fighting for ball from a reshaped team comprised of players best equipped to do this, allied to more positive end-product arising from this possession, should at least help us to restore a bit of pride and give us something to work with for the future.         

Along with something to shout about. And, after the week we’ve just put in, that’s something Mayo supporters could really do with.