Shoots of Mayo football optimism, which have been greening and flourishing throughout the championship, wilted and died in the harsh environment provided by a vastly superior Kerry in Croke Park yesterday.
Back in Mayo, a "Home Guard" of fervent supporters, who were unable to secure match tickets, watched the defeat unfold on television with the sinking feeling of gardeners who wake to find their prized sunflowers killed by a snap frost.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," wailed one disappointed green and red clad follower in McGoldrick's bar, Castlebar, as the game rolled towards its inevitable conclusion. "If we lost, we thought it might only be by a couple of points. This is a bit humiliating."
Pubs throughout Mayo reported a booming trade during the match, but business slumped afterwards as dejected supporters headed home to nurse their sorrows.
The hoped-for script from a local point of view yesterday had a decidedly more enticing ending. Mayo to win their fourth All-Ireland, swagger and pride restored. All primary schools in the county will close today as scheduled, with the team flying into Knock Airport in mid-afternoon for a press conference followed by a reception in McHale Park, Castlebar.
Due to Kerry's overwhelming win, today's homecoming will be more subdued, but all the indications last night were that the public will turn out in large numbers to greet the vanquished team and their mentors.
Text messages of support for the squad and manager John Maughan were pouring into Mid-West Radio in the hours following the game.
The general tone of the callers was positive: "We may have lost Sam but we haven't lost faith in John and the team. It's not over yet."
Television shots of Mayo supporters streaming into exit routes from Croke Park, such as Clonliffe Road, long before the game ended served to enrage some of those unable to travel to the match because there were no tickets available.
"All fans should have stayed to the bitter end," maintained a disgruntled Mayo follower.
"They owed it to the team who never gave up fighting and the thousands, many of them lifelong, loyal Mayo supporters who couldn't get a ticket."