Mayo beat Kerry 1-20 to 1-17 in the 138th All-Ireland final at Croke Park, ending a 75-year gap since their last title in 1951. The victory dispelled a legendary curse that had become part of Irish sporting folklore.
Fans celebrated outside the stadium, and the team will return to Castlebar for a homecoming on Monday evening. The win thrilled Ireland and the Mayo diaspora, including Joe Biden, Mark Carney, and the Gallagher brothers.
The curse and its origins
According to lore, the 1951 winning team passed through Foxford village and failed to pay respects to a funeral. A priest reportedly cursed them, saying "For as long as you all live, Mayo won’t win another all-Ireland."
The last surviving member of that team, Paddy Prendergast, died in 2021 aged 95, two weeks after Mayo lost another final. Prendergast had dismissed the curse as a myth, telling an interviewer in 2017: "There was supposed to have been a funeral in the local church; I don’t know whether there was or not. I saw people standing around the church but we didn’t get off the truck because we couldn’t get off the bloody truck."
The Irish Times exulted: "Mayo 1-20, Kerry 1-17. Chisel it on the gravestones, scribble it in the sky. Croke Park untethered, the whole place afloat for an hour on a lake of the sweetest tears that were ever cried."
Reaction and celebrations
Team captain Jack Coyne said as he held the Sam Maguire trophy: "To every young boy and girl across Mayo and our diaspora across the world, never stop dreaming, stick your chest out and be proud to be from Mayo. The wait is over. Sam is home."
Authorities had provisionally estimated 40,000 for the homecoming but Gerry Bourke, homecoming committee chair, told RTÉ: "After what I saw in Croke Park yesterday, I think we’ll have to revisit the plan."
Biden, who visited Mayo in 2023, posted: "Today, the dream becomes reality. You earned this victory. Enjoy every minute." Carney, the Canadian prime minister, posted: "The curse is broken." Noel Gallagher wrote: "Finally!! Up Mayo!!"
