CLAIRE O’REILLY
Staff Writer
65 years ago, 15 men from County Mayo’s Gaelic Football team were traveling back home, the Sam Maguire Cup on board, celebrating their All-Ireland victory.
It was 1951, and the team had just reached the Holy Grail of Gaelic Football. They defeated County Meath to seal the deal, not knowing that their county would not win again for the next 65 years.
Despite reaching the finals seven times, this year marked their eighth appearance, Mayo has not taken the Sam Maguire Cup home since 1951. Some people in Ireland believe Mayo has more than just a little bad luck on their side — they have a 65 year old curse looming over them.
Rewind back to 1951, when Mayo defeated Meath and the team was enjoying a victory ride home. While traveling, the team did not stop for a funeral procession underway in Foxford. It is believed that a priest or holy woman hexed the team for not stopping to pay their respects. Apparently, Mayo will not win another All-Ireland victory as long as any member of the 1951 championship team is still breathing.
According to sportsnewsireland.com, “The story is well known and scoffed at by many outside the Yew County. However trivial, it can be said that it has infiltrated the mindset of great teams over these past seven decades.”
Whether you scoff at it or not, it is obvious that at least some Mayo supporters whole-heartedly believe in the curse and take drastic measures to rid themselves of it.
“Supporters have made pilgrimages to Ireland’s holiest mountain, Croagh Patrick, hoping to end the curse,” according to www.independent.ie. “Taoiseach Enda Kenny even brought an All-Ireland final ticket to Rome four years ago in an effort to bring his team some luck.”
This year, Mayo once again made it to the finals.
On Sunday, Sept. 18, County Dublin and County Mayo met to end the playoffs. In the final minutes, Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor scored a point to the tie the game, forcing a draw.
The final was pushed back two weeks. Saturday, Oct. 1, the new date, fell outside of the curse’s original time frame. Some people thought maybe this loophole could get Mayo out of the curse’s clutch. Maybe some divine intervention had budded, and it was finally Mayo’s time to step out from under the curse’s shadow.
In a bar in Galway, surrounded by a sea of Mayo’s colors of green and red, there was a sense of hope. Maybe, just maybe, 2016 would belong to Mayo. The green and red would outshine Dublin’s baby blue.
Fast forward to Saturday, Oct. 1. This time, in a bar in Dublin, tension and excitement was palpable. Mayo and Dublin supporters were shouting, waitresses were trying to maneuver through a crowd of rowdy fans, and fists were banging on tables.
The game was close the entire time — so close you couldn’t look away from the screen out of fear of missing a moment. Each time Mayo came close to scoring, you could feel the hope in the air and hear the charged shouts from Mayo supporters. It really seemed possible that these 15 Mayo players, for the first time in 65 years, could take Sam Maguire back home.
In the final moments, Mayo could have tied the game. Time seemed to stand still as the ball was shot down the field. It glided through the air, sailing straight towards it target, but missed the sweet spot between the goalposts.
Despite how close they came to winning, 2016 was not Mayo’s year. They just couldn’t get the job done again. Losing by one point, they sent Dublin on to win its fourth All-Ireland in six years.
Think what you may and believe what you will about the curse, but two of the 1951 champions are still alive and kicking, and Mayo is still losing.