I bumped into Maurice Sheridan on Sunday night and we spoke a little bit about the journey. We talked of 1996 and 1997 when he played on Mayo teams in successive All-Ireland finals. They went close – the bounce of a ball had denied them in 96. I remember going to those games wearing my Mayo minor jersey, a fraying headband wrapped around my head, roaring and shouting from the Canal End.Those teams didn’t manage to get over the line but they laid the path for others to come after.Before that era, my uncle, Christy Garrett, would take me to games in Croke Park. I remember travelling with him and Mattie Heffernan to the All-Ireland semi-final in 1988.We were sitting behind the Mayo dugout in the old Cusack Stand and though Mayo lost that day, 12 months later John O’Mahony had them in an All-Ireland final.Mattie’s son, Barry, would go on to become our goalkeeper with Crossmolina when we won the All-Ireland club title and he would also be Mayo’s substitute goalkeeper in 1996. The dots forever connecting.Sadly, Christy and Mattie have since passed away. They were genuine Mayo people and while they never coached me, they had a huge influence on my love of Mayo football by bringing me to environments where I got to see my heroes – the likes of Willie Joe Padden and Liam McHale and Kevin Cahill.Every team helped lay the road for those behind them.There wasn’t a Mayo person who didn’t well up or have a moment after the All-Ireland final on Sunday. Like thousands of others around me, I cried. I was at the game with my wife and three boys. It was only our second time as a family to be in Croke Park as Mayo supporters together.The seven-year-old was at his first All-Ireland final and witnessed Mayo winning it. What are the chances? The eldest lad had been at the finals in 2016, 2017 and 2021 – he’s a little bit older and has an understanding that this hasn’t come easy. But they all have All-Ireland winning heroes now.Mayo's Eoin McGreal and Darragh Beirne celebrate victory against Kerry in Sunday's All-Ireland SFC final at Croke Park. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho It was impossible not to think about Mattie and my uncle Christy and my early experiences of travelling to Croke Park to watch Mayo. They would have loved Sunday.And you think about all the people who had a part in building the opportunity for Mayo to have success. And you also think about the clubs of Mayo and what they have done to make this possible.Kobe McDonald and Darragh Beirne and Eoin McGreal are in their first season with Mayo – they are products of the coaching work carried out by their clubs in Crossmolina and Claremorris and Garrymore more than anything else.The margin of victory on Sunday doesn’t matter to the people of Mayo today. That’s for Kerry folk to debate this week, because we’ve done our time rummaging around in the weeds of All-Ireland final defeats.We said in these pages last week that it wouldn’t take a miracle for Mayo to beat Kerry. Players would have to win their individual battles, to make the game a contest and then to win the scraps. Mayo achieved all of that.There were a couple of key moments in the game.David McBrien’s point in the eighth minute was important just to get the scoreboard ticking for Mayo and settle nerves. Then Kerry got the goal and suddenly they were 1-5 to 0-1 ahead.You’d be forgiven for fearing you’d seen this movie before, but I remember at the time just thinking, “How are we going to react here – are we starting to shake or can we respond?“Jack Carney and Ryan O’Donoghue stood up in that moment by each kicking a two-pointer – halting Kerry’s gallop and putting wind in Mayo’s sails.Andy Moran and the management team made a big call 24 minutes in by taking off Paul Towey and introducing Tommy Conroy. It wasn’t because Paul was out of the game. It was more an attempt to move O’Donoghue out the field, because until that point, the Kerry full-back line had been doing quite well.Mayo's Ryan O'Donoghue (centre) celebrates winning a free during Sunday's All-Ireland SFC final against Kerry at Croke Park. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho With O’Donoghue further out, Jason Foley stayed in the Kerry full-back line and that match-up dynamic totally changed in Mayo’s favour.Mayo’s pressure out of possession was superb. Those defensive moments when you don’t have the ball but force a turnover, they turbocharge the crowd, they energise everybody.Paul Murphy was isolated several times and forced to try to break through a forest of Mayo tackles.Mayo got some rewards from the press but other times they didn’t. Crucially, though, Kerry were emptying their tank at a rate of knots to get out of there on every single occasion.Fundamentally, Mayo were in those small little battles at all times and psychologically, they knew they were having a positive impact on the game. Their energy tank was growing as a result while Kerry’s was dropping because of the level of effort they had to use just to get out.Mayo grew from those moments. And not just the team on the field. That sense of togetherness, watching Mayo players outwork Kerry players all over the pitch, that translated to the scenes in the stands afterwards when Mayo people turned to strangers beside them and embraced. All in it together.Those players, like others who have gone before them, have now inspired the next generation. The wheel keeps turning. But the kids who were in Croke Park on Sunday have the advantage of now already knowing what it feels like to see a Mayo team win an All-Ireland title.No sooner had we arrived home on Monday afternoon than we were all back in the car and heading for the homecoming in Castlebar.The truth is, as supporters there is no plan on how to celebrate this. Are we literally supposed to go buck wild? Perhaps it’s best just to go with it. As a starting point, the scenes in MacHale Park were incredible, it was a massive sense of occasion.Sam Maguire was finally with us, finally in Mayo.