It is almost an annual tradition: wondering whether Mayo can end x years of hurt. This time the clock has been set to 62 years. But that will become zero by 2014 if James Horan has anything to do with it.

The Mayo manager sat down for a chat with our own Colm 'Wooly' Parkinson, with the All Ireland final against Dublin looming on the horizon.

There is always the danger of hype derailing Mayo's challenge and that is something Horan is well aware of.

"The approach we have taken in the three years I have been involved has been to just put our heads down. We certainly haven't gone looking for attention. We're still the same, we haven't changed anything that we do. The Mayo public are a little bit experienced at this stage," said Horan.

But what of the hoodoo? Is the run of losing finals, particularly the ones involving Horan in the 90s,  something that preys at the back of Mayo's minds? 

"It's light years from where we were. The commitment the guys put in is at a different level. I wouldn't consciously go out to reference anything that we did before in terms of what we should do now. There isn't anything from 1996 or 1997 that would have a bearing now, except for the fact that we had strong teams to win those finals but our skillset let us down. But it doesn't affect this team. If anything, it's a wind at our backs," Horan told Wooly.

But Mayo have a good recent record against Dublin, having beaten them in last season's semi-finals. Horan told Wooly that he is not worried about the Dub's thirst for revenge:

"It's the last game of the season. We're in good position, we're very well prepared and we're very confident in our ability and what we can do. We're just looking forward to giving the performance that we can. What Dublin do and what Jim Gavin decides to do is completely up to Jim."  

Horan started off by discussing the lessons learnt from the hard-fought semi-final win over Tyrone...

©INPHO/Dan Sheridan