Mayo talisman Cora Staunton says "stubborness, a change of attitude and hard work" is what got her side back on track after their Connacht final drubbing to Galway.
The Tribeswomen dished out a 3-12 to 1-08 beating to their neighbours on their own turf in July but Mayo regrouped in the qualifiers and dethroned six-in-a-row champions Cork in the semi-final to seal their place in Sunday's All-Ireland final against Dublin.
"We got well beaten," Staunton, reflecting on that day in Castlebar, told RTÉ Sport. "Galway were certainly the better team.
"We never got out of the blocks and were nine or 10 points down after about 10 minutes.
"The performance was better in the Kildare game, but still wasn't anywhere near good enough. We were massive underdogs going in against Donegal and put in a quite a good performance.
"Then Cork the last day, again nobody expected us to win, and the performance was upped again.
"We've a new coach, Peter Lee, he came in after the Connacht final.
"Things just stepped up. We looked at ourselves and weren't happy with how were performing and where we were going.
"It's all based on hard work. Obviously, we've got a bit of luck on the way, which you need, but our attitude has changed and hard work is what has got us here."
Mayo's Cora Staunton @duckie15 looks ahead to the @LadiesFootball final against Dublin #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/tUInRQZvkK
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) September 22, 2017
Staunton (35) will contest her seventh final of an incredible 23-year senior career this weekend. The last of her four wins came against Dublin in 2003, with Yvonne Byrne and Martha Carter also survivors from that panel.
Standing in their way is a battle-hardened Dublin team who have lost the last three finals to Cork.
"Dublin are going into their fourth (in a row), we only have three or four girls who have played in a final," said Staunton.
"They're definitely the form team of the year. In most of their matches they've racked up really high scores so we're under no illusions it's going to be a massive task.
"We know we're up against it. They've got beaten narrowly in the last number of All-Ireland finals. I'm sure they're massively hungry.
"But we're massively hungry too. You don't get to All-Ireland finals too often, it's been 10 years since Mayo have been in one.
"So we're going to have to try and grab the opportunity."
