Pubs restocking as Mayo’s party of parties set to continue

By David Young and Claudia Savage, Press Association

Mayo publicans are restocking with fresh supplies as the party of parties continues following the county’s historic all-Ireland victory.

Tens of thousands packed into MacHale Park stadium in Castlebar on Monday evening to welcome home Mayo’s triumphant Gaelic football team with the famous Sam Maguire Cup after their first win in the showpiece final for 75 years.

The dramatic triumph against Kerry at Croke Park on Sunday finally put to bed one of sport’s most famous and long-running curses and has sparked scenes of mass jubilation back in Mayo.

The myth of the curse ensured the victory transcended Gaelic games and sent reverberations well beyond the island of Ireland.

Before Sunday’s remarkable scenes inside Croke Park, Mayo had not won the All-Ireland title in seven and a half decades – despite reaching the final 11 times since 1989.

The losses were put down to a myth that the 1951 winning team had not shown respect to a funeral they passed on their homecoming route.

The story goes that either the priest or a relative of the dead person placed a curse on Mayo that the county would not win the Sam Maguire until every member of that championship squad had died.

It was reported that the last surviving member of the 1951 team died in 2021.

The long-awaited victory coming after the death of that team member has only added to the legend of the now lifted curse.

While the homecoming event concluded in the early evening on Monday, the party in Castlebar extended long into the early hours – just as it had in that town and others across the county the previous night.

“It’s electric. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Castlebar pub owner Mick Byrne told the Press Association on Tuesday.

“Everyone is in such good form. People are smiling. Even people who normally don’t smile are smiling today and everybody is happy.

“You could hardly get into any of the pubs last night – the place was absolutely heaving.

“It’s just unreal at the minute. This is our first time in 75 years winning the title and we’re not used to it – we’ll never see these scenes again.”

Byrne said all the pubs are struggling to keep up with demand.

“There wasn’t a pub in Castlebar that didn’t run out of stock last night,” he said.

“There wasn’t a pub that didn’t have to restock last night and they are restocking again today. The atmosphere is unbelievable.

“There’s too much doom and gloom around and you want things to keep people happy and this is what we have now – and everyone is just in great form.”

Repeated all-Ireland final losses down the years have seen the hopeful rallying cry of “Mayo for Sam” become part of the popular lexicon across Ireland – it was even chanted by former US president Joe Biden during a visit to his ancestral home county in 2023.

Young and old were among the crowd that packed MacHale Park on Monday to celebrate Mayo making it 14th time lucky.

Fans carried flags bearing the players’ faces, set off flares and sang and chanted throughout the event.

Player Rob Hennelly led the crowd in a rendition of the county’s now-famous anthem Green And Red Of Mayo by the Saw Doctors, which was followed by a further chorus of the song from well-known TikTokker Garron Noone, who hails from Mayo.

After the team held the Sam Maguire aloft, Mayo manager Andy Moran told the tens of thousands of cheering supporters: “They sneered at us. They laughed at us. But they won’t laugh at us anymore.”