Drone images capture the extent of the crowd welcoming the All-Ireland heroes to Ballaghaderreen

Thousands of supporters turned out in Ballaghaderreen last Thursday to celebrate the All-Ireland success of local man, Mayo manager Andy Moran, and his team.

Large crowds congregated on the Square in the town 75 years after another Ballaghaderreen man, the late Sean Flanagan, last brought the Sam Maguire to the town as team captain.

Addressing the gathering on Thursday, Andy Moran said “we’re very proud” of the town and “the Ballaghaderreen players are so proud to represent all the people who are here tonight”.

“I started playing senior with Mayo in 2003. I was captain, we dreamt of this moment for so, so long. We were here with Johno (the late John O’Mahony) in ’89. Gerardine (O’Mahony) had on the door – ‘Keep the faith’. We drove by the door, she said: ‘We kept the faith’ and now we are All-Ireland champions,” he said.

Mr Moran paid tribute to the contribution of Ballaghaderreen GAA Club. “We keep producing county footballers. It’s something that we really need to be proud of. Since I was a young fella…Dermot Flanagan, Noel Durkan, Kevin Cahill right through to David McBrien and Kuba Callaghan.” He hoped more success would follow. “Let’s keep dreaming, let’s keep enjoying this feeling, let’s harness the feeling, and let’s get a tiny, bit greedy now and let’s go back after it again in a couple of months,” he said to a loud cheer.