Time, they say, is a healer. Yet, the 20 years that have passed since Meath edged out Mayo in the All-Ireland football final replay, have clearly not eased the pain of defeat for John Casey.
Over the course of the two finals in 1996, the westerners were considered to have had the better of things, but couldn’t put Seán Boylan’s Royals away.
A speculative punt from Colm Coyle, that ended with the ball bouncing over the bar for a point, secured a draw for Meath in the first outing.
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Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Casey, who lined out at full-forward, described the mood in the Mayo dressing room afterwards: “I'm not going to lie. It was a sickening feeling and one I still have nightmares about.
"We were four points up with ten minutes to go. In the end we were hanging on for dear life and then you had that ball bouncing over the bar.
“We were all pretty devastated afterwards, except for one of our selectors who was pretty upbeat about things. He said: ‘What are ye all so sad about – that was our best performance since the 1951 All-Ireland final’. He was looking at the positives, trying to get us motivated for the replay.”
Two weeks’ later and the sides convened again at Croke Park.
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Six minutes in and a free-for-all breaks out at the Hill 16 side of the ground.
The Charlestown clubman takes up the story.
“I was probably one of the instigators of it. I'm not going to tell a lie," revealed Casey.
“There was a little scuffle at the edge of the square and I lost the run of myself. I went in and challenged.
“I could have done with picking on a smaller unit but I picked on (Meath midfielder) John McDermott and literally grabbed him around the neck.
“As I fell on the ground I got this unmerciful elbow to the side of the head from Enda McManus. Even though my involvement was short and sweet, it did spark off the free-for-all that followed.
“The whole thing was very unsightly and not one of my proudest moments.
“Everyone mentions that scuffle. It's just one of those haunting memories. It was a pretty vicious few minutes of scrapping.”
Calm was eventually restored but not before Liam McHale and Colm Coyle were both shown red by referee Pat McEnaney.
The replay would eventually follow a similar pattern to the drawn game, with the westerners in control.
However a late goal from Tommy Dowd and a subsequent point from Brendan Reilly gave the Royals the narrowest of victories on a 2-09 to 1-11 scoreline.
Describing Reilly’s winning point, Casey said: "He cut in on the Cusack Stand side and curled his shot over with his left foot. Kenneth Mortimer, one of our outstanding defenders at the time, slipped at a crucial time. You couldn't make it up."
Mayo had begun 1996 in Division 3 of the league. They won promotion and come September were seconds away from winning the All-Ireland and burying that ‘curse’.
Ahead of the county’s quest to win this weekend’s All-Ireland replay, John Casey sums up his thoughts 20 years on by saying: “If you were to ask any member of that team from the mid 90s they would tell you that the '96 loss was devastating.
"One of our most influential players got sent off when we needed him most. We did rally but it just wasn’t to be.
“It’s a regret that we’ll carry to our graves.”
Watch the full 1996 replay here
Watch live coverage of Dublin v Mayo on The Saturday Game on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player from 1600 and follow our live blog on RTE.ie. Live radio coverage on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 and highlights on The Saturday Game on RTÉ2 from 2200.
