James Crombie's photo of Stephen Rochford tells you all you need to know about his and Mayo's feelings.
Yet again, they had guided themselves to within a point of the All Ireland champions Dublin and yet again that was as far as it goes as another All Ireland final eluded them and the wait since 1951 goes on into another year.
Speaking to Off The Ball's Oisin Langan and Philip Egan after the game, Mayo manager Rochford outlined his emotions.
"It's a fine mixture of disappointment and I'm very, very proud of the group at the same time but no doubt disappointment. We put a lot of that game," he said.
"Sport is cruel. We played well today but just Dublin played that 1% better than us and are very deserving of their win. Huge respect for Jim [Gavin] and Stephen [Cluxton] and their whole group and what they've achieved.
Mayo's Lee Keegan celebrates scoring his sides first goal ©INPHO/James Crombie
"Sport is cruel but we'll dust ourselves down and we'll do our best no doubt in Mayo to change things in 2018."
Rochford spoke of his pride at how his team bounced back from the concession of an early goal by Con O'Callaghan but also credited for continually tapping over scores and keeping the scores tight before edging it at the end.
On just how close Mayo are to gaining that elusive All Ireland after the narrowest of defeats to Dublin in both 2016 and 2017, Rochford said: "The winner writes the script. Being a good second or bad second, you're still second".
Some pivotal moments during the game, separated the sides, for example Jason Doherty's goal chance and Cillian O'Connor striking the post with a free from a tight angle in the latter stages.
"There were very fine margins. David Clarke also pulled off a save from Paul Mannion. We got a free, hit the post. Dublin get a free and they nail it, with respect to Dean Rock, who was probably more in a slightly advantageous angle but you know it is what it is, sport is cruel," said Rochford, adding that he "did not see the incident" which led to Donal Vaughan's red card.
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