BY RYAN FERRY
MAYO native Mark O’Sullivan says it has been a ‘magical’ week so far for his county as Sam Maguire Cup takes up its new residence.
The Connacht side went into last week’s All-Ireland Final as clear underdogs but claimed one of the great upsets to defeat Kerry by 1-20 to 1-17.
That has sparked a week of great celebrations as Mayo finally picked up the silverware they craved after a 75-year wait.
O’Sullivan lives in the Twin Towns and has been heavily involved in coaching with Sean MacCumhaills over the past decade.
However, there’s no denying his Mayo twang and he has made the most of a whirlwind week.
“I stayed up on the Saturday night and went to the match on Sunday. I have to say a big thank you to Tommy Gallen and the Gallen group for the tickets.
“When it was over, we just felt we had to head west.
“The craic on the way down at the tolls and everywhere else was amazing. It was like a festival.
“We never knew what it would be like because we never knew if it would happen.
“It took about five hours to get back but nobody cared. We talked about the match and were just reminiscing about days gone by and you were finding yourself welling up a bit thinking about people who have gone and what they would have thought.
“It was just magical. It’s like a dream, we’re waiting to wake up and find it hasn’t happened at all.
“I was at the homecoming in Castlebar and people came in their droves.
“I came back to Donegal then but I’m hoping to get back down tomorrow (Thursday) as they are coming to my own home area in Claremorris.
“Who would have thought Darragh Beirne would have been bringing Sam Maguire into Claremorris? It’s just brilliant.”
Mayo have been banging on the door but came up short in 11 All-Ireland Finals since 1989.
There were real doubts if they would ever see their team climb the Hogan Stand steps but it finally went their way against Kerry.
O’Sullivan had experienced the desolation as final after final failed to bring the glory they craved.
“Unfortunately I was at them all apart from the Covid final in 2020.
“My father is a Kerry man from Cahirsiveen, and I remember being at the 1989 final right up at the back of the old Canal End and we just came up short against Cork.
“It just replayed the same old story, trudging down the road. There were times when it was so close and yet so far and then there were others where we were well beaten.
“We got a wee bit of luck on Sunday and made our own luck as well.
“We were the dominant team on the day and deserved to win. There’s no question.”
O’Sullivan admits that he wasn’t overly confident as he headed for Jones’ Road on Sunday morning.
“I have to be totally honest, and I went up with a wee bit of trepidation.
“We just didn’t fully know what to expect. Mayo had been topsy-turvy throughout the year. We had been poor in the first half against Meath and the second half against Monaghan and were well beaten in the league in Letterkenny.
“But we did have growing momentum and Andy Moran had a great line about playing Croke Park football.
“I didn’t know what to expect but there seemed to be a real kick in them after they got over Meath.
“Did the job against Cork and got the better of Louth, who were no bad side after taking out Armagh.
“You go up in hope but it’s never going to be easy against Kerry who usually give it an eight out of ten in finals. It was hope more than anything.”
O’Sullivan is a member of An Garda Síochána based out of Milford and there was plenty of craic in the station and in the community in the lead-up to the match.
There was no shortage of good-will as Donegal people offered their best wishes ahead of the final.
“I’m up in Donegal since 2011 with my wife Eilish. There was no through the gap for her so I had to head to the North West.
“Donegal is very similar to Mayo – just a different accent.
“We’re on the Western Seaboard and we have suffered with emigration, and we’re mad into our football and our sport.
“We would both be loyal people, and who is to say, if the year had panned out a bit differently, it could have been Donegal there on Sunday.
“I would be meeting Mayo people here all the time. We are spread far and wide with work and relationships and what not.
“You’d have a great link with fisheries, and Gardaí and nurses and teachers aand so on.
“There was a lot of good will from Donegal people in the lead-up to the final and of course (Paul) ‘Papa’ Durcan was involved too and that did us no harm.”
A sign saying ‘Mayo have Sam’ during the homecoming at Castlebar in Mayo, after being crowned All-Ireland Senior Football champions following their victory over Kerry in the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final at Croke Park on Sunday. Photo by John Sheridan/Sportsfile
The ‘nearly-men’ tag will not be banished and talk of the infamous curse will dwindle after this breakthrough.
The struggle is over and O’Sullivan thinks there will be a different mentality for Mayo folk.
“I think it will because it will remove the whole ‘poor Mayo’ outlook.
“There will be a confidence behind them now because they have won one and they deserve to be rated.
“It removes all the talk of 75 years and curses and bad luck stories. That’s all in the past. This is a new team with a new outlook.
“It won’t weigh so heavily like it did with the men that came before. That’s why I was do delighted for Andy Moran, Colm Boyle and Keith Higgins because they gave their whole life to it – Aidan O’Shea, Cillian O’Connor and Rob Hennelly as well.
“It will bring belief and Mayo will go up to Croke Park now with belief that they can win the big finals.”