IN THE WAKE of last year’s heartbreaking defeat to Donegal in the All-Ireland SFC, Mayo knew they’d be back.

On Sunday, James Horan leads his men into the championship decider once again with the defeat 12 months ago as extra motivation — if any were needed — in the showdown with Dublin.

“It was a strange feeling, the massive disappointment and the feeling that we’ll be back again,” says defender Colm Boyle of Jim McGuinness’ win at GAA HQ.

“Everyone was resigned to the fact that we were going to do the work to get back there again. It’s very easy to say you’ll do the work but we followed up on that and now we’re looking to do what we didn’t do last year.

“Last year we felt we didn’t play to our ability and that was the frustrating thing. This time we’re looking to put in the performance we know we can.”

Boyle was yesterday named in the starting 15 for the game and says he’s been taking the massive hype in the county in his stride this time around.

“When I was younger I was probably a bit more conscious what people thought of me,” the Davitts man says of his mental approach. But now I’m just not bothered if I can do a small job for the team that’s all I’m concentrating on do and I’m not bothered what other people think.”

He adds: “Maybe I might have listened to too much talk from supporters before. But it just goes in one ear and out the other now.

“I think Mayo supporters are very genuine. They want to wish you luck. Most supporters give you a thumbs up and say good luck the next day and that’s it. How do we stay insulated? By just concentrating on the next training session, next game or next skills session. If you’re getting them right other stuff is for supporters and they’ll look after themselves.”