Mayo county football team

History

Local GAA activity in Mayo was evident in the 1890s, though the county was not affiliated with the GAA through that decade. The rivalry with Galway, which brought success to both counties from the 1930s, was already present. Galway and Mayo have won over three-quarters of all Connacht SFC titles contested. Mayo holds an unequalled record of consecutive National Football League titles, winning in 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, and 1939.

A turning point came in the 1935 Connacht SFC final, when 26,000 spectators saw league champions Mayo defeat reigning All-Ireland champions Galway at Dr Hyde Park. In the 1936 Connacht final, Brendan Nestor equalised for Galway in the last minute and raised the flag himself, causing a riot; Mayo won the replay and captured its first All-Ireland SFC, beating Laois 4–11 to 0–5. The following year, a last-minute goal by Louis Blessing in the All-Ireland semi-final against Cavan ended Mayo's 57-match unbeaten run.

Mayo pulled out of the 1939–40 league over a grievance about the 1939 semi-final with Kerry, but returned to win a seventh league title in 1941. The league was then suspended for four seasons due to the Second World War. After winning the 1939 Connacht final, Mayo took nine years to emerge from the province again, narrowly losing the 1948 All-Ireland final to Cavan and the 1949 semi-final to Meath.

Curse

Since the 1990s, a sports curse story circulated that Mayo would not win another All-Ireland until all members of the 1951 team had died. The supposed cause was that the 1951 champions, returning through Foxford in a coach or lorry, passed a funeral cortège without suspending their celebrations, and were cursed by either the priest, the bereaved spouse, or a Traveller. Folklorist Arlene Crampsie found that participants in the GAA Oral History Project regarded the story as recently contrived nonsense spread by the media.

The two surviving 1951 players, Paddy Prendergast and Pádraig Carney, dismissed the story in a 2016 documentary. Carney died in June 2019, Prendergast in September 2021, and the last overall member of the 1951 team, Mick Loftus, died in April 2023. Mayo won the All-Ireland in 2026, its first appearance in the final after all 1951 team members had died, ending a 75-year wait.

Support

Mayo's unofficial supporters club is Mayo Club '51, named after the year of the county's last All-Ireland win before 2026. The club has produced numerous songs, including 'Boys from the County Mayo', 'Hay Wrap', 'The Green and Red of Mayo', 'To Win Just Once', 'Sam Maguire is Coming Home to Mayo', 'Mayo Anthem 96', 'Fight for Sam 2006', 'Mayo are Back', '51 Years Without Sam', 'The Dream Has Never Died', 'Mayo Get Up and Go', 'Mayo, Here We Go', 'The Mayo Man', 'This is Our Year', 'Mayo for Sam', 'Horan's Men', 'Seven Mayo Finals', 'Mayo Cup Song', 'This Year is For Mayo', 'In the Name of Mayo', 'Bring Sam Home', and 'Fight for Sam 2020'.

Many songs since 2012 resulted from an unsuccessful effort to match 'Jimmy's Winning Matches', an anthem for the team that defeated Mayo in that year's final. RTÉ Sport reporter Conor Neville noted that the county enjoys one of the most consistently passionate sets of fans in Irish sports. A Mayo jersey signed by Pope Francis has been on display at Ireland West Airport since a 2018 visit. Kevin Kilbane was a fan from boyhood and joined a fanclub upon retiring from professional association football in 2012.

The Chicago Federation of Labor displayed 'Mayo for Sam' in lights on the Prudential Building ahead of the 2020 All-Ireland final, and Dublin Castle was lit in Mayo colours before that game.

Players

Pádraig Carney was the first player to score a goal from a penalty in an All-Ireland final. Lee Keegan is the highest scoring defender of all time, with 7–48 in 67 championship matches. Cillian O'Connor became the highest scoring player in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, surpassing Colm Cooper's record during a defeat in Killarney in 2019; he had scored in all his previous 51 championship matches except one against London in 2013 when he was black carded.

O'Connor's four goals and nine points in the 2020 All-Ireland semi-final broke the record for highest individual scorer in any championship football match. Lee Keegan made 140 appearances as of the end of the 2022 season. Mayo has 48 All Stars as of 2017, won by 29 different players. Lee Keegan won five All Stars, the only player to win five without an All-Ireland medal.

John Carey was among the inaugural All Star selection in 1971. Willie Joe Padden and Dermot Flanagan became the first Mayo players to win multiple awards, both winning their second in 1989. Kenneth Mortimer became the first Mayo player to win consecutive awards, in 1996 and 1997. Kenneth and Conor Mortimer became the first Mayo siblings to win All Stars when Conor won in 2006.

Did You Know?

• The team's traditional colours of green and red are inspired by the rebel song 'The Green Above The Red'.
• The Mayo GAA crest features the Irish words 'Críost Linn', which translates to 'Christ be with us'.