On the canvass / Seán Moran with John O'Mahony:Finding John O'Mahony's canvass is surprisingly straightforward given that Killasser is the second largest rural parish in Ireland. Eight miles long and consisting of nearly 60 townlands - and fewer than 400 votes - it's geographically bigger than some Dublin constituencies. But drive down the appointed road and there's the car, liveried with election branding, O'Mahony and Fine Gael.
Manager of the Mayo football team and one of the biggest names in the game, O'Mahony doesn't need too much branding.
The familiar quiet, cautious demeanour is unchanged for political campaigning. He acknowledges that one of the biggest paradigm shifts in his new pursuit has been the need for greater stridency. There's nothing to be gained in this game from telling constituents that other candidates have to be favourites, that you're the underdog.
Legendary for his meticulous attention to detail and man-management skills, he has to organise and coax about 6,000 votes out of the electorate to position himself for a seat.
"You know my mission," he says to one older couple in a farmhouse.
Killasser is Fine Gael territory so it's an encouraging canvass. For added impact, O'Mahony's brother is parish priest. One woman at her back door laughingly assures the candidate: "I couldn't but give you support. I'd never get absolution. I'd be straight down!"
Territorially, Mayo is the biggest constituency in Ireland. It is also a cockpit of this election. If Enda Kenny can't bring in three seats here it won't look good for Fine Gael's chances of forming the next government.
It's a point O'Mahony is keen to emphasise.
"If we could get the taoiseach in the constituency it would correct the imbalance, redistribute resources more fairly - but for that to happen we need the third seat. "That's where I come in," he explains to voters.
Where he literally came in was as an addition to the Fine Gael ticket in Mayo.
Enda Kenny and Michael Ring are certainties but if there's to be a third Fine Gael seat, it will be O'Mahony or Michelle Mulherrin.
O'Mahony has profile and visibility but according to an early Mayo Newspoll, he was trailing at 4 per cent with Mulherrin on 5 per cent. But there is a ladder of candidates behind the front-runners, up to Dara Calleary on 8 per cent. Even a small shift in those percentages and the whole landscape can change.
The approach on the doorsteps is courteous, almost formal. "I'm asking you for your support. If you give me the chance, I'll work hard and won't let you down," O'Mahony repeats door to door.
As he walks out on to the road outside one house he sighs that he's become expert in decoding the responses.
A radio discussion on MWR has been arranged in a premises in Kiltimagh. It's a fairly low-key exploration of local issues until at the very end Sinn Féin candidate Gerry Murray, given the last word, chucks a curve ball, calling on Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to support the Western Rail Corridor.
Suddenly it's as if O'Mahony has spotted a corner forward hiding behind his marker. Voice rising sternly he thunders that it is Fine Gael policy to develop the railway within the lifetime of the next government ". . . and you know that".
The railway is one local issue, water quality and sewage in Kiltimagh another.
National issues crop up on the doorsteps and O'Mahony is comfortable. Class size: "I've been a teacher for 31 years and I'm well aware of that"; nurses' dispute: "I attended the nurses' rally last week and there are nurses in my family. It should never have got this far."
He arrives at the heart of the parish just as the children are getting out of school, in time to distribute some of the jauntily red-and-green coloured pens that come with his election literature.
Outside the church, he canvasses the collection cars."Do your best for me." One driver calls to another: "Now's the time to get the milk price up, Marty."
The tiny village illustrates one of O'Mahony's recurrent themes - the disconnection between struggling rural communities and the prosperity of urban and big-town Ireland.
"That shop over there," he points at the only premises on the street, "is closed until the evening. There's not enough people around during the day but they're paying the same rates as everyone else. In a few years they'll be giving grants to open shops in rural Ireland. Why not do it now while they're still here."
At the Gateway Hotel in Swinford later that night the weary canvassers drink pints and pots of tea. O'Mahony, however, is preparing to make a late appearance at a fund-raiser for the Special Olympics in Castlebar.
He checks that everyone has lifts home, settles the refreshments bill and gets a call informing him that another candidate has just arrived at the function.
"I've sources everywhere," he smiles.
New game. Same old Johnno.